'Bigga' Thompson spotted training with H'View

O'Neil 'Bigga' Thompson, who guided Arnett Gardens to two Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) titles before leaving the club last season, intends to lift the RSPL trophy again at the end of the upcoming season and it could be with Harbour View FC.

The 35-year-old was spotted in training with the eastern Kingston-based club and although he refused to confirm that he will be donning the blue and gold, he said that he intends to win his third title with the team he will be playing for this season.

"I will be playing this coming season but I am not gonna say where I will be playing. Everyone will know soon," Thompson said. "The objective is to win another title and I think it will be this one."

Thompson, who was the captain of the Trench Town-based Arnett Gardens, said he was approached by a plethora of clubs across the length and breadth of the country, but he is only interested in playing for a team that have a legitimate opportunity to challenge for the title.

"Teams from all over Jamaica came to me but I have been playing in the play-offs for the last five seasons, so I am only interested in clubs that could possibly win the title," he explained. "They know what I can bring to the table in terms of my leadership ability and how well I can play."

UPCOMING SEASON

STAR Sports made several attempts to contact officials from Harbour View to confirm whether the defender will be part of their programme for the upcoming season, but received no response.

In April of this year Thompson said it was a change of culture why he decided to move on from Arnett Gardens.

"I have been at Arnett Gardens for 11 years and I don't think certain things are valued as they used to be. I don't think I can continue in terms of leading them in the right direction," Thompson said at the time.

Arnett Gardens started the 2017-18 season off well with an impressive 19-game win streak before things started to go south after a wage dispute.

Their woes worsened when a group of players signed a petition to have the president of the club, Patrick Roberts, removed from his post after Member of Parliament Mark Golding refused to take up his honorary position as chairman of the club with Roberts in the picture.

It was reported that Thompson was not in support of his players' stance and, as a result, relinquished the captain's armband to Damian Hyatt in the latter part of the season.