By Neto Baptiste
Former coach of the once popular Attackers football team, Colin James said his removal via a vote from the position back in the 1990s, was orchestrated by some within the All Saints community whom he believes envied its success.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, James who was also one of the main organisers of the All Saints Community Football League, said talks of him being abrasive and or overly aggressive with players was nothing more than a smokescreen.
“It was felt that, maybe because I was asking too much of the players or trying to demand too much of the players that I was getting on their case and that maybe they wanted to hear a different voice, but I knew that was not it. It was a case where the success of the team and the club rankled some people in the community without them being a part of it. They wanted to get involved and to get involved they had to see me out of the way,” he said.
James lost by one vote after the club had an emergency meeting at the McPond playing field. A slew of players eventually followed James on his way out.
“That wasn’t even a vote because I was conducting the meeting and I didn’t even vote in the meeting and as the chairman of the meeting you have the casting vote because you could see form then and you could see it developing and you didn’t have to be Einstein to see what was developing in the background and so you could do so much and then you just tell yourself that maybe it’s time to look in another direction,” he said.
One former member of the club, Schyan Jeffers, said in a recent interview that players were of the opinion that it was time for a change and that there was no conspiracy to dethrone James.
James, a former government senator, also denied reports he had confiscated team equipment following the vote.
“There is some rumour out there that I took everything from the club and nothing could be further from the truth. I remember the night of the meeting and that I didn’t have my car; I think it might have been getting repaired at the time. Nick Fenton [Warmy], he was in the meeting and I asked him to take me home because I had lived in Buckleys since 1990/91 and if my memory serves me right, I believe I gave Nick whatever material for the club that I had at my home,” the coach said. The Attackers FC, once known as the ESPN team, disbanded not long after the vote with the All Saints United FC eventually emerging from the dust.