Wint

Manchester's new man in charge of football, Dalton Wint, wants to regenerate his parish's ambitions for a return to the Digicel Premier League (DPL).

Wint and his new executive were voted into office recently after president of the last three terms, Dale Spencer, decided to pack it in at this level.

Spencer, the current first vice-president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), remains chairman of the South Central Confederation.

Despite being widely recognised for the way he has stabilised the Manchester Football Association into a financially prudent and efficient secretariat, Spencer failed to inspire any serious attempt at qualification during his tenure.

The parish has not seen action in the premier league since 1997, when Mile Gully, a team which shaped Wint's leadership involve-ment in the sport, qualified.

Challenge

Los Perfectos, the parish's standard -bearer in the 1980s, came close in 2005 but lost out to Boys' Town, badly losing the final encounter at Collie Smith Drive when all that was needed was a draw.

Boys' Town have not looked back since, regularly making the top six of the DPL.

Concern for the parish's failure to qualify a team has soared with the former JFF president and Manchester FA life member, Pat Anderson, issuing a challenge in his presentation at the FA's annual awards ceremony.

Anderson said: "I wish I didn't have to drive to another parish on a Sunday evening to watch premier league. We had football here in the past and I wish we could have it again."

Wint, too, is passionate about the matter and wants promotion of a Manchester team to be the signature attempt of his administration.

"Everywhere I go on the street the common concern is when are you going to get a premier team back," Wint told The Gleaner in his first interview after being elected.

He also disclosed that the failure of a Manchester team in the premier league had caused a negative stigma to be attached to the parish's players, especially when they attempt to ply their trade elsewhere.

"I've heard it and players have complained to me that the first reaction is people say 'no good football can't a play ina di parish if you don't have a premier league team'."

He even attested that such a factor had even brought discrimination against his own players when they attend national youth selection camps.

Later, Anderson weighed in on how players are affected and believes the parish's programmes stand to gain more marketing mileage if premier league status is achieved.

Consistent level

"Let's face it, a parish is going to struggle to keep its best players playing the game at a consistent level. The strongest marketing effort for a parish has been the presence of a premier league (team). It changes the whole outlook on things: infrastructure, media, you name it."

In making the case for a spirited effort at claiming premier league status, Anderson elaborated: "You just have to look at what has happened in Kingston, as I understand is taking place in Effortville, Spanish Town, and then compare what is happening with St James."

In an approach reminiscent of when Reno emerged on to the national scene nearly three decades ago, Wint's plan is to assemble a unified Manchester team boasting the parish's best players and qualify such a unit using the base of one of its current Confed league teams.

He is confident that such an approach stands a greater chance of being successful in Manchester, as most clubs are not from communities defined along political lines and no one club enjoys a particular talent base.