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‘Teddy’ sees himself in ‘Whisper’
April 19, 2024
Former Reggae Boy Jermaine 'Teddy' Johnson has remained close to football since hanging up his international boots in 2014 and the once prolific striker believes there are two current players who remind him of his days donning a jersey competitively.
"Whisper (Dujuan Richards) reminds me a lot about my old self, but I think he's far better than me at scoring goals. He can take the ball from anywhere and try to make something happen. Another player is Justin Dunn, and I'm happy for him as he's doing well. He has tied my goal-scoring record for Tivoli with 16 goals and, hopefully, in the games coming up, he can surpass me," Johnson explained.
The former Tivoli Gardens striker who was named the Jamaica Premier League's leading goalscorer in the 2017 season, having netted 16 goals, shared that while he might have been a thorn in the flesh of most defensive units, he was wary of a couple of defenders who were eager to nullify his goalscoring abilities.
"I was never scared of defenders as you need to have confidence going up against them. However, playing against Claude Davis and Damian Stewart is always going to be rough. Sometimes they don't just play football and back then it wasn't easy to get a red card.
"As a striker, you had to be ready and moving because if they touch you, you're in problem. You also have Ian 'Pepe' Goodison and Oneil 'Bigga' Thompson as the defenders that stood out," Johnson said.
He represented Jamaica on 73 occasions while scoring 12 goals and shared that it was an honour to have donned the colours of the Reggae Boyz.
"It was the best feeling to have been able to represent the country. I was a young youth from the ghetto and playing for the national team was the biggest honour. Thinking back about those days gives me joy and goosebumps to even look back at the pictures," he added.
Having played on both local and European soil for an extended period, Johnson stated that the biggest differences between both are three strategic pillars.
"Some of the biggest differences are player development, the playing surfaces and players' technical abilities," Johnson believes.
