Pro League Club North East Stars have restored the services of Guyanese coach James Mc Lean after a two year absence.
Club owner Darryl Mahabir confirmed to ‘ttproleague.com’ that Mc Lean has reunited with the Sangre Grande based Club on a three year contract, “When the position was left vacant by Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings the choice wasn’t hard. It was just a matter of settling a few matters with James Mc Lean and now he is back with us on a three year contract.”
“He has been the best coach we ever had at North East Stars. He has been great in player development and also a very competitive coach. Players such as Anthony Wolfe, Glenton Wolfe and Kendall Jagdeosingh have never been looked at for national selection until they passed through him.”
Mahabir pinpointed the example of Kendall Jagdeosingh, who he says never made the Intercol Team playing for Arima Senior Comprehensive and Mc Lean took him and turned him into a big player today.
“When he joined the Club in 2003 we won the FA Trophy Competition and finished third in the League and in 2004 he was Coach of the Year after wining the Pro League. This alone says a lot for James Mc Lean and we are glad to have him back,” said Mahabir.
Mahabir went on to explain that Mc Lean wasn’t able to handle the workload offered to him in 2005, hence his reason for leaving the Sangre Grande based Club.
“In 2005 I wanted Mc Lean to do more than just coaching. I wanted him to manage the team as well but as he indicated it was too much for him because of personal matters at home in Guyana,” ended the North East Stars owner.
In 2006 North East Stars finished sixth in the League under Coach Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings who took over the team back in September after taking over the reigns from Miguel Hackett. ‘Gally’ however was unable to continue into the 2007 season with North East Stars due to pending commitments.
Guyanese James Mc Lean was still very involved in local football after leaving North East Stars having worked with Toco Composite in 2006 at Intercol Level.
Mc Lean who had his first session on Tuesday with the ‘Sangre Grande Boys’ since his return to the Club told ‘ttproleague.com’, “I am happy to be back with the Club and I am looking forward to having a great season. I have only had one session with the players and I would continue to have more over the next couple of weeks and I’ll see where I go from there,” ended Mc Lean.