Only those players with commitment and discipline who want to represent Barbados will be welcomed into the national football programme.
That’s the message from coach Colin “Potato” Forde and team manager Fabian Wharton following the completion of Group 4 of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup at Kensington Oval on Thursday night.
Barbados finished second behind the Dominican Republic and must now await the outcome of the remaining first round groups to know whether they would advance to the second round.
“Those players who want to represent Barbados will come out to practice. I have never stopped anyone from coming to training, but if you are going to be a part of the national team, there are rules and guidelines that you have to follow,” Forde remarked.
“It can’t be the same thing over and over. If we are going to rebuild, we have to rebuild, not only with our play but with our attitude and discipline. That is the only way.
“I am going forward with those players who show the correct commitment and attitude and want to play for Barbados. If you don’t want to play for Barbados, I’m not going to entertain you at all.”
First-time manager Wharton lauded the current crop of national footballers.
“We have a set of players who are committed and dedicated to representing Barbados and that is all we wanted from the beginning. If a player does not want to play for Barbados, don’t have the passion, and pride of putting on that jersey and playing for their country, we don’t want them in the set-up,” Wharton said.
“We have maintained discipline in the set-up. We changed a lot of things (and) we have to make sure that the attitudes are right. We have put a lot of structures in place, (like) how the team is to walk out (and) how the team is to approach the bus.”
Wharton said the team’s management was training the young players to be better people.
“When I first took over as manager, I said to them at a training session, if you come into the national programme and you do not leave with something, you have failed. You are either going to become a better footballer or a better individual, and those are the two core things which we have built this team around,” Wharton added.
