If you want to see flair, finesse and flamboyance on the football field—you need to come and see Joe Public FC take the field in the 2006 T&T Pro League.
Head Coach Michael Mc Commie is promising football fans an entertaining brand of football this season—he told ttproleague.com, “Joe Public’s philosophy has always been to entertain the people, and we love to play the short passing game and we want the crowds to come out enjoy the football.”
The ‘Eastern Lions’, who dominated the National Super League in 2004 and 2005, winning the league on both occasions are the least bit concerned about making the step back up to the pro-ranks.
“We don’t anticipate a problem in making the transition to the Pro League, for the simple fact that, the status of the team never changed, Joe Public have never stopped being a professional unit, even when we decided to play in the Super League among amateur teams—and we proved we have what it takes to match any of the teams in the Pro League when we met them in the Toyota Classic last season, Defence Force and Jabloteh can attest to that,” said Mc Commie.
The former national goal keeper says, “On paper, I believe we have a strong a team as any of the other teams—but we all know football is not played on paper—and all my players, especially those who were there last year in the Super League are looking forward to the challenge of playing tougher opposition—so it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.”
“There is no doubt that we respect the likes of Jabloteh, W Connection and North East Stars, I am a young coach in the business and while some may see me as arrogant, I have a lot of confidence in myself and the players that I have personally hand-picked, and when you have four to five quality teams in a ten team League that augurs well for local football—but I am confident that Joe Public can compete with any of the big guns, that’s the least of my worries. My problem is which of my players I will start and who do I leave on the bench,” Mc Commie added.
Joe Public’s line up this season is a colourful one, filled with Brazilians, Colombians, Jamaicans, Antiguans, Guyanese and some locals as well—Mc Commie made it clear, that Joe Public wanted to have a team that can not only compete, but win games, and the fact is the better local players are all tied up with clubs, so they had no choice but to bring in some foreigners to fill the gap.
“We have two Colombians—Phanor and Carlos Gonzales, Phanor is a 22 year old striker with enormous potential, so far he has played 4 practice games and has scored 8 goals. We have some Brazilians—Gorgie Da Silva, Vincente Da Costa and Leandro Monacao who played last season, has returned, the five Jamaicans who featured prominently in the Super League team are also back—Roen Nelson, Carlington smith, Wolry Wolfe, Adrian Mitchell And Jacomeno Barrette.”
The former National player also has some good local talent in his squad—the likes of Arnold Dwarika, Gary Glasgow, Kerwyn Jemmot, Devon Caseman, Lyndon Andrews, Travis Mulraine and skipper Dale Saunders have all returned to the ranks.
Michael Mc Commie says, “We will be fielding a nice young all round team, that is capable of playing entertaining football and I strongly believe once we play the game as we know how at Joe Public we will get favorable results.”
Mc Commie denies feeling any pressure heading into the season—he said, “Any coach of a top class outfit would feel a certain degree of pressure, it comes with the territory, but I personally don’t feel any pressure—because as a player, I played best under pressure, and the board of directors at Joe Public have given me full support and they have allowed me the freedom to mould this team.”
The objectives of the ‘Eastern Lions’ this season is unique, Mc Commie says, “Joe Public wants to stamp their brand of football in Trinidad and Tobago, “We want to entertain the fans in a professional manner—we are very well organized in terms of pre-season preparation, the guys are fit and ready to play and we believe we have the capacity to win the League—Joe Public is a marathon team and not a sprint team and the league title is well within our grasp—however, every competition we play we will be playing to win.”
He boasted, “Silverware and Joe Public are synonymous—since I have been associated with the club we have never gone a season without winning silverware, and this year is no different, the quality at the club and the money that has been put into the team demands that we win titles and we will be aiming to live up to that.”
Team Profile
Coach—Michael Mc Commie
2004 Achievements
Super League Champions and Knockout Champions.
Last Season’s Top Goal Scorer—Roen Nelson and Carlington Smith—22 goals each
New Players— Carlos Gonzales, Phanor Gonzales, Vincente Da Costa, Gorgie Da Silva, Anthony Abrahams, Arnold Dwarika, Gary Glasgow, Kerwyn Jemmot and Travis Mulraine
Registered Squad of Players
Captain- Dale Saunders
Goalkeepers— Jacomeno Barrette
Defenders— Carlos Gonzales, Adrian Mitchell, Terrence Mc Allister, Jason Springer, George Dublin, Gorgie Da Silva.
Midfielders— Lyndon Andrews, Dale Saunders Devon Caseman, Kerwyn Jemmot, Arnold Dwarika, Anthony Abrahams, Vincente Da Costa Wolry Wolfe and Travis Mulraine.
Forwards— Phanor Gonzales, Roen Nelson, Carlington Smith, Leandro Monacao, Gary Glasgow and Seon Powers