No margin for error, says TG coach

While Tivoli Gardens (TG) completed a Jamaica Premier League season turnaround in the 2019/20 campaign, head coach Phillip Williams says that they cannot afford another bad start as they prepare for the upcoming season.

The 2020-21 campaign will kick off on June 26 in a season that will last under four months and consist of one round of matches as local football returns after a 15-month hiatus. Tivoli finished the first round of the previous season with two wins, six defeats and three defeats, which left them in the relegation zone. They did manage to stabilise their situation in the latter part of 2019, then surged up the table in 2020 with six wins out of nine games. Tivoli were in fifth place and a play-off spot when the league was cancelled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams says that with this truncated season, a similarly difficult start must be avoided if they want to further their play-off ambitions this year.

"We know that we don't have time this season to slip up and (we don't have a chance) to get back if the competition slips away from us. We are planning to start much better than we did in the previous season," Williams told STAR Sports.

According to Williams, only three players have departed the squad that managed the midseason revival, as the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting uncertainty of the season forced them to go overseas to provide for their families. Veteran forward Jermaine 'Teddy' Johnson is still with the Tivoli squad.

Williams has acknowledged that they are behind in their preparations as they started full training just last week Wednesday. However, he says that even with the limited preparation they are targeting a place in the play-offs this year.

"We want to play as much football as possible. We have been out for almost 15 months now and we want to be in the competition for as long as it lasts," Williams said, while adding that a strong finish to this season could determine how the team starts the next one."

Just like they did in the 2019/20 campaign, Tivoli will open the season facing UWI FC.