St Mary’s College have appointed a star-studded cast, led by former 2006 World Cup striker Cornell Glen, to replace Michael Grayson, who stepped aside as head coach of their Secondary Schools Football League Premier Division squad following Wednesday’s encounter with Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School.
Glen was due to have an introductory meeting with the team yesterday.
His two assistants are Kona Hislop and Abdallah Phillips. Hislop, younger brother to former national keeper Shaka Hislop, is a former CIC standout and national youth team striker; while Phillips is a former Caledonia AIA striker who has already made a name for himself as Caledonia coach and was in charge of Naparima College for their final matches last season, following the departure of Travis Mulraine.
Having previously been attached to the T&T senior men’s national team, Clayton Ince takes up duties as goalkeeper coach, and Roger Ryan is the new physio.
Grayson’s last match in charge was on Wednesday. With the team without a win after two matches, a second half goal saw St Mary’s edging the bottom-of-the-table clash with Miracle Ministries 2-1 and subsequently moving up to 11th in the 16-team table after getting their first points of the season.
St Mary’s opened the season with a 6-0 thrashing from St Anthony’s College, before following up with a 3-1 loss to Malick Secondary.
Having previously coached Arima North, St Augustine Secondary and Trinity College East, Grayson was in charge when CIC won promotion back to the Premier Division in 2022, having been relegated previously.
Calls to Grayson’s phone yesterday went unanswered yesterday.
However, he had earlier issued a statement informing technical staff, parents and players of his decision to step down.
“Good morning to all players and technical staff members and parents, it is with a heavy heart that I am informing you that I will no longer be the coach of the CIC 1st XI team,” stated Grayson, via WhatsApp.
Grayson claimed to have experienced “total disrespect” from the school’s football committee. “This reached its peak last night in a conversation concerning today’s session. As the longest serving coach in the SSFL, together with Trevor Spicer of El Do, disrespect is something I will not tolerate. My good friends, I wish you the best for the rest of the season,” the message ended.
Damian Cooper, head of the football committee, confirmed Grayson’s departure but would not comment further without permission from the school’s principal.
However, a source close to the team, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the relationship between Grayson and the Football Committee had been tension-filled since last year, when Grayson resisted the appointment of a technical director.
“That is not a this-year problem. That started since last year,” the source said.
Asked if the poor start to the season might have further heightened tensions between the parties, the source replied: “For sure!”
SOURCE: T&T Express
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