Whitmore won’t listen! – Butler “ ”

Phoenix Academy founder Craig Butler says that what he describes as a difficulty to listen to others is holding back national senior men's football team head coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore as he prepares to lead Jamaica into FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

Butler was speaking on Thursday in an Instagram Live interview with The Gleaner, where he spoke about various issues regarding the state of Jamaican football and also about his son, Bayer Levekusen forward Leon Bailey's return to the Bundesliga yesterday.

While Butler has high hopes for the team qualifying for its first World Cup since 1998, he says that Whitmore's unwillingness to take advice from knowledgeable persons around him has affected his development as a coach.

"One of the most difficult things I have had as a person is being willing to listen to others and to accept that I don't know everything," Butler said. "What is holding Tappa back is that he also unwilling.

"Because he is unwilling, he stopped learning. He stopped growing. If Tappa starts to listen, and if he gets people around him who have expertise, then I'm sure he will be a good motivator.

Bailey voiced criticism of the constant rotation of players in the squad during an Instagram live session on his page recently, saying that it has affected team chemistry and continuity. Butler agrees with those sentiments, saying that because the national team does not have a set system in place, it is a tedious process to get them going for international games.

"The reason that it disrupts team chemistry is because they have not been developed in the same system," Butler said. "Leon Bailey plays for Leverkusen in a modified 4-3-3 [formation]. [Shamar] Nicholson plays for Charleroi [in Belgium], you don't know what system they play. It's all different. You only have seven days on an international break, so when you bring them back, it's like the tower of Babel. Everybody is speaking a different language. It wont work until they put in a system where when they go away, they will remember what their system was when they come back, and that's what Jamaica needs."