Gradually becoming a household name in the football fraternity, Jason Spence has suddenly found himself in the position of technical director/head coach of St. Ann’s Rangers for the upcoming 2014/2015 TT Pro League season.
This after the club failed to win over the services of former coach Anthony Streete during financial negotiations, which was topped by Super League runners-up Club Sando.
Streete, who finished Club Sando just one point behind Guaya United last season in the Super League, had served Rangers between 2006 and 2011. He also returned to the St. Ann’s club, where he has always shown loyalty, as caretaker at the end of last season in the Pro League after the club parted ways with Gilbert Bateau.
Streete said that he would be always willing lend his services to Rangers, similarly to his one-month stint last season following the end of the Super League.
Meanwhile Spence, who recently led the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s Team, as interim head coach, to an impressive 5-0 friendly win over Venezuela before going under 2-0 in the second leg, enters the Rangers head coach post with just a year-and-a-half experience as assistant coach with the club’s top-flight outfit.
His coaching experience also includes; coach of St. Francois Girls College for the past six years, two-and-a-half years as coach of the Rangers Women’s Team, technical director of Rangers youth programme, and assistant coach with the T&T Women’s U-20 team in 2014.
He will continue to serve the Rangers Women’s Team, which presently stands atop the Women’s League Football (WoLF) Premier Division, and as assistant coach to the T&T Women’s Senior and U-20 teams while, of course, serving Rangers in the capacity of technical director/head coach.
In 2013 Spence had a stint alongside head coach Dean Pacheco when Rangers finished 7th with just 13 points, and in the 2013/2014 season he doubled as team administrator/assistant coach to Bateau, as the St. Ann’s club finished rock bottom on the nine-team table with 7 points.
Upon his appointment last week, Spence immediately summoned the services of former Rangers player and coach Pacheco, who will serve as his assistant.
“The club decided they would stay within,” said the 44-year-old Spence, over the club’s decision to promote him as technical director/head coach.
As for his decision to summon the services of 41-year-old former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Dean Pacheco, Spence said, “When I was on the management side I felt comfortable working with him (Pacheco). We were on the same page in the way we wanted to see the football play.”
Spence also believes that Pacheco’s playing experience and being a past national player will prove a vital asset in the technical set-up as Rangers will, just as last season, field a very young squad.
At the helm of things, Spence has tasked himself to lift Rangers off the bottom – the position the club cemented last season.
“Realistically the goal is to move Rangers off the bottom… two or three places up,” Spence said. “And to be a competitive team.”
Spence said that Streete built a foundation, during the brief stint near the end of last season, and he is ready to build on it.
“I think that my personality (which he described as strong leadership qualities but very humble) will help bring out what is already there in the players and we will improve. I would certainly push for togetherness within the team, respect for each other, and more discipline within the team and the way we play,” ended the new Rangers head coach.