The 2006 TT Pro League Coach of the Year and B Mobile Joe Public’s Michael Mc Comie has hinted it is time for him to take up new challenges, which may see the former national goalkeeper missing in action during the 2007 season.
Mc Comie spoke with ‘ttproleague.com’ after receiving the 2006 Coach of the Year Award and expressed the need to pursue different challenges.
"I am young in the coaching business and young in general, so I am just hoping to go from strength to strength and I believe it is time for me to accept a different challenge and push myself in that direction because I have never wanted to solely rely on football to earn a living which I have been doing so far. I think now is the time for me to exercise different options available to me at the moment to develop myself as a person which is the primary thing for me and hopefully everything works out," said the 2006 Coach of the Year.
A former Joe Public player himself, Michael Mc Comie took over the Macoya based team back in 2004 from Coach Ron La Forest who he assisted in 2003 after retiring as a player from the only local Club he ever played for. He carried the Eastern Lions to the Super League title back to back in 2004 and 2005, before returning to the Pro League in 2006.
When asked about his feelings on winning the Coach of the Year Award Mc Comie said, "It’s a good feeling to win this award and I am very elated at the moment. I had a lot of support from coaches like Ron La Forest, Jimmy Blanc, Gally Cummings and Miguel Hackett during the 2006 season and I relied on them during the season in terms of advice and they were always willing to help me regardless of the situation. It’s good to see that I have soaked up that knowledge from those Coaches and able to use it."
"At the end of the day a lot of credit must also be given to my players because in coaching it is a trust issue. I have built trust in my players and they returned the trust in me. At the end of the day the players played the game in the way in which I wanted and it was an overall effort by everyone. In the end I got the award but much thanks must be given to the people I have mentioned," said the former national goalkeeper.
He also admitted before the start of the season no one would have guessed he would have won this award and he says it wasn’t his main aim, "When I first took over the team 2004, nobody would have guessed that today I would have been named the 2006 TT Pro League Coach of the Year. It was good to win the award and its now time for me to build on this achievement," added Mc Comie.
The former Joe Public goalkeeper is proud of what he achieved with the Macoya based team saying, "The state that I took Joe Public over in and the present position that I have the team in now in terms of organization and players with team play and everything, I think it is work that I should be proud of and I should thank the players and organization for giving me this opportunity," ended Mc Comie.