It was hard to call ‘Tappa’ coach – Johnson

Former national midfielder Jermaine 'Teddy' Johnson has had the rare privilege of playing with and being coached by Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore

The 40-year- old Johnson was speaking recently in a Gleaner Sports Live interview in which he described his playing career throughout England as well as the current state of the Reggae Boyz.

Johnson made 73 appearances for the Reggae Boyz during his 13-year international career and when Whitmore began his second spell as national team head coach, Johnson was under his watchful eye.

The Tivoli Gardens midfielder recalled that it was difficult initially to adjust to their new dynamic having been teammates before. "It was hard for me to even call Tappa [Whitmore] a coach because I played with him before," he said. "It was kind of hard at times."

Grown as a manager

However, Johnson said that he has appreciated how much the 47-year-old Whitmore has grown as a manager.

"He was always watching, writing down stuff, doing stuff and I did not understand what he was doing. But when I went into the Jamaica team and I saw him doing his stuff I was like woah," he said. "He really stepped it up from playing football to a coach and it was really good.

Johnson was part of the 2017 Gold Cup squad that advanced to their second consecutive Gold Cup final. Although they fell short in the final against the United States, he is proud of the run they made, claiming that it was one of the best teams that he has played with. It was also Whitmore's first major final as a coach.

Johnson hopes that the same opportunity granted to Whitmore can be granted to other promising local coaches in the future as he believes that it will benefit the programme's long-term future.

"Most Jamaicans they don't see Jamaicans being a coach of the national team and that's where we go wrong. Sometimes, we have to push the coaches that are out here trying to help," he said.