Boasting a coaching staff loaded with past players, Harbour View FC are hoping to return to the pinnacle of local club football.
Heading into the new season of the Red Stripe Premier League, Harbour View have added their former striker Fabian Taylor to a coaching set-up that already featured Donald ‘Fowlie’ Stewart and Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner.
The three are assistants to Head Coach Ludlow Bernard.
The Jamaica Observer caught up with Taylor and Gardner after Harbour View’s 4-0 win over Barbican FC in a practice match at the Barbican Complex on Wednesday.
“It is something that I enjoy, something that I look forward to on a daily basis. I enjoy working with the players and to help them get the best out of themselves and improve every time they go out on the football field. Once they do their best, we can go on and achieve,” said Gardner, a member of the Reggae Boyz team which qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France.
He is also relishing the opportunity to work with former Reggae Boyz teammate and mentor Ian ‘Pepe’ Goodison. The veteran recently joined Harbour View as a player.
“Ian is like a brother to me and he brings a lot of experience to the club. They can learn from him, and we also can learn from him because he has so many years of experience in the game,” explained Gardner.
Taylor, the one-time national youth team standout who was cruelly dogged by injuries, has found a career in coaching, but he still plays intermittently for Newlands in Portmore, St Catherine.
He is excited with having the chance to return to Harbour View as a coach.
“It feels good to be back at Harbour View coaching; it feels good to pass on my experience to the younger guys,” Taylor said.
Bernard believes the presence of his assistants — all with deep ties to the club — will boost the morale in the dressing room.
“The injection of their experience is going to be a huge fillip for the team. They are very motivational, they are very resourceful, and they are very influential, so we figure that with that edge we can get the desired result going forward. We are hoping we can have that cutting edge compared to other teams, and we hope that can set us apart,” Bernard said.
Harbour View, who previously won the national league title in the 2012-13 season, were fifth at the end of the preliminaries in the previous campaign.
Source: The Jamaica Observer