Thomas coy on Portmore departure

Portmore United coach for the last two seasons, Shavar Thomas, admitted that he will leave the St Catherine club to take up a role with the Turk and Caicos Football Association at the end of the season, but he refused to divulge details of his next job and said he will wait until the Red Stripe Premier League is completed in a couple weeks.

Thomas, who had a fairly successful Major League Soccer playing career from 2003 to 2012, played for top clubs such as Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wizards, LA Galaxy, Chivas USA, Philadelphia Union and Montreal Impact. He began coaching in Jamaica in 2016 with Excelsior High School and in August 2017, he was hired by Portmore United. He brought them to the final in his first season and helped them win the championship for the first time in three consecutive attempts, after they lost to Montego Bay United and then Arnett Gardens in the two previous seasons.

However, earlier this month, news broke that the former national defender would be joining fellow Jamaican coaches Andrew Edwards, who is the new technical director there, Omar Edwards, and Aaron Lawrence to the Northern Caribbean island.

Although not wanting to go into much detail, Thomas said he was looking forward to this new chapter of his coaching career with great anticipation and excitement.

GOING PRO

“Embarking on this journey feels like when I was just going pro, so I feel like I am going pro again in coaching,” he said.

Thomas is the fourth Jamaican to take up coaching duties in the British overseas territory and he expects former Jamaica captain and his new assistant coach, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, who is expected to replace him at Portmore to maintain the club’s high standards.

“Ricardo Gardner, for him to be at Portmore United is a steal,” Thomas said. “His playing career speaks a lot for itself and he has a lot to offer to the game. So you will see no changes in terms of the success and consistency with the club, and that’s how we operate, that’s how our directors operate, that’s how our management staff operate, we look ahead.”