Grizzly Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Was snooping about on the Reggae Boyz forum and found this letter from Simmoes to the Jamaican soccer fans. May give some idea of his approach there and what he would have been like had he been hired here. Can't say I am particularly fond of the closing bit given his rep for being a religious nut: Open letter from Rene Simoes Wednesday, December 05, 2007 December 4, 2007 Dear Jamaican friends, A wise man once said:"It's better to have a happy ending than a triumphant beginning." Nothing could be more appropriate for the return of this technical staff to Jamaica. The problems, defeats, victories and achievements of the past; the glory of that November 16th and the Road to France which took us on an incredible journey cannot guarantee the success of this new challenge. The past can only serve now as a source of inspiration and knowledge for the present. Effort and hard work must once again be at the forefront of everything we do. We cannot let our guards down in the insatiable quest of our objectives for the roadblocks and difficulties we must surpass are bigger than ever now. The preparation time is shorter; our opponents no longer see us as an easy target against which they do not need to prepare and our team will not be together full-time. The group spirit created in the past and the experience gained with a large number of international games will come in strides. Camps will be short and games will be fewer. Observation and discussion will be the basis of the work in the beginning, and I will once again have to ask for the patience and support of the local teams as players will have to travel in order to gain international experience. The roof of our house, our 2010 team, must be the focus of our work. However, no roof can stand on its own. Therefore, we cannot forget our foundation and pillars, that is, the Under-15 through U-23 national teams. They are the Senior teams of the future and their development today ensures our success tomorrow. Let's also not forget the development of the Women's National team, which after the 2004 Olympics, as many of you know, is a topic close to my heart and of increasing interest in the world. I hope my return will encourage the creation of a school for coaches; a project which I'm sad to see has not been completed. We cannot build new talent to compete at the world level if we do not capacitate those who will lead them in this direction. We will have to be professionals above anything else; we cannot treat ourselves as old and dear friends who are scared to demand results and question actions. My desire is to create a unified group, not a unanimous one. If we are united, then we can observe, question, recommend and demand maintaining strict professionalism, even if we do not always agree. If the relationship between the technical staff and the Federation does not follow this principle, then we will be nothing more than an old group of friends on vacation in the Caribbean. I apologise for not standing next to Captain Burrell, Horace Reid and other members of the Federation as the news of my return is announced. However, in the last seven months I have worked intensely with Coritiba, one of Brazil's greatest teams, which for two years had struggled to return to the elite first division. We achieved our goal in style, not only guaranteeing a spot in the first division for 2008, but also celebrating the national championship in the division. I will pass the holiday season with my family in Brazil, gathering my strength and looking forward to my return. It's been 13 years since I first went to Jamaica, 10 since the qualification and seven since I left. I'm not the same man I was then. I have less hair, the mustache has more grey hair now and the belly begins to stubbornly grow. However, I still believe in the same principles of careful planning, execution, hard work, respect, learning lessons from temporary losses and success. My return has been a joy for my family and I, who have always felt a strong attachment to Jamaica and Jamaicans. The bonds of love and friendship created are as true now as they were many years ago, and we are happy to be back. Some say lighting doesn't strike twice, but I say, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD. May He be with you all and bless us on this new journey to South Africa 2010. Yours in football, Rene Simoes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Also the Brazilian Serie B Coach of the Year. The thing about Simoes is that behind that cloak of being a religious man is a ruthlessly results-oriented and technically-competent coach. In the end, that is what Jamaica has. No matter what your views of Mitchell are, there is no comparison in terms of experience and results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto MB Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 What I can appreciate in this is the fact that he, and subsequently the Jamaican federation are actually addressing the fans. No matter how much effort the Voyageurs have put forward to grow the game in Canada, often times literally working for the CSA without being asked to, they refuse to ackowledge us. (until a couple individual figures like the "CSSU" go about personally pestering them) I can also appreciate his trying to set a confident tone. Something that surely with our skilled top 15, we need to be doing. I just fear that our negative hangover from 2006 will wreak havoc with the nerves of the whole delegation for 2010. I pray not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Man, can this guy pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Yea i think the CSA doesn't give a Sh!t about the voyageurs. They should because we care. But thats how it goes these days. Quite a letter though by Simoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Toronto MB What I can appreciate in this is the fact that he, and subsequently the Jamaican federation are actually addressing the fans. No matter how much effort the Voyageurs have put forward to grow the game in Canada, often times literally working for the CSA without being asked to, they refuse to ackowledge us. (until a couple individual figures like the "CSSU" go about personally pestering them) Not exactly. there was a time in Voyageurs history when contribution were present on a daily basis on this forum from the communicatiosn guy at the CSA. But that has since dissappeared. You can't entirely fault them either. I can imagine that you would get tired of dealing with some who just complain for the sake of complaining and, in the end, just dont know what they are complaining about. Could they do more? absolutely and there are plenty of examples. But acknowledgement and communication between the CSA and the V's is a two way street. Promper monitoring of content on this site IMO would pave the way to improving this from our end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadasBest Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Wow. Love him or hate him, at least he's trying to build bridges and mend fences there. As a fan I would have been pretty impressed seeing something like that from a Canadian coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaku_bert Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Having just returned from Jamaica on Saturday, I was struck by how much people were indifferent to soccer. No-one really wanted to engage me on the subject of soccer. People seemed to like their cricket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 As standard as it is in many ways, you have got to admit it is wonderful PR, and even if obvious at heart it is inspiring. He connects with the sentiment amazingly. The guy is no dolt obviously, he is talented. We missed the chance to hear him wax on poetically about our land of football dreams. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 I should just clarify one thing regarding the letter, I don't think the letter was written to the Reggaeboyz specifically but to all Jamaican fans in general and one of their posters posted it on their site. Still it is good PR and he has some interesting things to say but I don't like the religious stuff, very unprofessional in my opinion. Perusing the JB forum they mostly seem happy to have him back but some of the T&T guys posting there say he was the worst coach Trinidad ever had so who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 As much as I think the letter is a good thing, I couldn't help but provide a parody of the same letter in a Canadian context. Since this is the holiday season, here's my spoof version: Dear Canadian Soccer Fans, A wise old coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs once profoundly exclaimed, "I wish we had a guy like Albert, " in reference to a classic Canadian Tire commercial about a boy growing up to becoming a superstar player for his hockey team. ( ) Nothing can be more appropriate for our soccer team. Just like the Leafs and Canada's team, Toronto FC, we are still looking for talented Canadian athletes like "Albert", who will lead our team to the past glory of , say, the 1986 World Cup team. Despite our unfortunate lack of goals at the U20 World Cup, the lack of leadership at the CSA, and the our ineffective ways to deal with payola at the last Gold Cup, I believe that these experiences would serve as inspiration and knowledge for the present. I, and the coaching staff, will certainly make sure to keep water bottles away from Paul Stalteri this time. Effort, hard work, and an insane amount of corporate sponsorship will be at the forefront of everything we do. I know we have loads of talented players at the club level, but since our budget only allows for interesting connecting flights and sharing rooms at the Budget Inn, our players will face insurmountable obstacles at every place other than on the pitch. The preparation time is shorter; our opponents will also see us as easy targets as the CSA will accommodate the visiting teams and their fans more. Plus we will get the best Latino refs that CONCACAF and the United States can buy. And the qualifying games against St. Vincent and the Grenadines will count as preparation matches. Twice. (St. Vincent AND the Grenadines, okay?) But despite the performance of the U20s this past summer, which isn't entirely my fault, I am back and ready to go. I am buoyed by the success of this summer's U20 World Cup and the excitement brought by the organizing committee. Imagine the portapotties at most of the venues and the thrill of seeing Jonathan Beaulieu-Borgeault as emergency goalkeeper, live on CBC! Since when before 2007 has the CBC shown soccer? Okay, in the 80s sure, but you know what I mean. We have to be professionals and be unified with our MLS superstars like De Rosario, Onstad, and Kevin Harmse, as well as European regulars like De Guzman, McKenna, Hutchinson, Stalteri, and Nakajima-Farran. If they don't perform to standard I will call up others to pick up the slack: Peters, Ricketts, Will Johnson, Andrea Lombardo, and Julian Uccello. I'm serious. I apologize for putting Hume upfront as a target man for the South African friendly. (I didn't know what I was thinking.) However, our CSA delegation did enjoy our mini-holiday in Durban and had the chance to hang out with the FIFA personalities. This may come in handy at a later date, career-wise. I will pass the holiday season with my family, away from TFC fans. I remember the excitement of the 1986 World Cup. Since then I have more gray hairs and less hair, but to paraphrase middle-age man of the old SNL, "don't look at my gut." But I also believe that I'm wiser and ready make sure that someone upholds the English-style of direct football, other than the English and Northern Irish. I believe that we have the most talented team since 1986, and like in the first paragraph, we are just short of an "Albert", a breakthrough player. (Jonathan De Guzman, keep your stick on the ice and come on down, please!) I will always do my best despite the fact that some of you wanted that Brazilian guy or my current assistant as head coach. I won't let you down, Canada. May Amanda C. bless you all and our journey to South Africa in 2010. Yours in soccer, DM P.S. Replaced "G" with "A.C." 'cause if you admire her, there is a God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadasBest Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 lol. Very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 instant classic - thanks gotta change God to the Duze or somebody, though ;> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 quote:Originally posted by nolando instant classic - thanks gotta change God to the Duze or somebody, though ;> Okay dokey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Lol! I especially like your reference to that MLS "superstar" Kevin Harmse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 quote:Originally posted by BearcatSA Lol! I especially like your reference to that MLS "superstar" Kevin Harmse! Man you're sharp -- I was wondering when someone would bring that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 quote:Originally posted by redhat Man you're sharp -- I was wondering when someone would bring that up. Thank you, though I must compliment you on your sublime inclusion of that piece de resistance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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