Days after Barbados failed to qualify for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup finals currently taking place in Jamaica, Colin “Potato” Forde has quit as head coach of the national senior team.
Forde, a former top Barbados midfielder, handed in his resignation shortly after returning home from Barbados’ failed CFU Cup second round campaign in Haiti, last month, ending a mostly unsuccessful four-year stint.
After beating minnows Bonaire 4-1, losing 2-3 to hosts Martinique and drawing 1-1 with Suriname, the Bajan Tridents qualified for the second stage in Haiti but then flattered to deceive.
They kicked off with a 3-2 win over St Kitts/Nevis in the first match but lost 4-2 to hosts Haiti and finally crashed out with a 2-0 loss to the unheralded French Guiana.
Efforts to reach Forde yesterday were unsuccessful but president of the Barbados Football Association (BFA), Randy Harris confirmed that Forde had resigned for personal reasons.
Harris said the BFA’s executive council will be meeting next week Friday to make a number of decisions.
“It is a matter that we have to discuss and, basically, we have some decisions to make as to how we are going to select coaches going forward,” he told WEEKEND SPORT.
“Every day, we get European and South American people who are very interested in coaching the national team sending in their CVs [curriculum vitae], even people from Japan, but overseas coaches aren’t cheap and if we go outside, we will have to look for funding,” Harris said.
Forde took over in 2011 from Thomas Jordan, who was relegated to assistant coach, but endured a string of disappointing results thereafter.
He not only presided over two failed CFU Cup campaigns but also a six-match winless streak in the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.
“Of course, we were disappointed. We were looking forward to reaching the finals. This was a special year for the CFU and we wanted to get into the [CONCACAF] Gold Cup but we want to thank him for the job that he has done over the past four years or so because he has done it at some personal sacrifice and for that, the BFA appreciate his efforts,” Harris said.
In the World Cup qualifiers which were played in 2011, Barbados lost to Guyana by 2-0 margins both at home and away.
The Bajan Tridents also suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Trinidad and Tobago and a 4-0 loss in the return leg while losing both matches 2-1 to Bermuda after going goalless for 367 minutes.
Despite the results, the BFA kept faith with Forde but the losing streak continued in 2012 when the Bajan Tridents lost the first of two friendly internationals against St Vincent and the Grenadines 2-1 before drawing the second game 1-1 in Kingstown.
In the subsequent 2012 CFU Cup, Barbados hosted a first round group at Kensington Oval but even though securing 1-0 and 2-1 victories over Dominica and Aruba, respectively, narrowly lost 1-0 to the Dominican Republic and failed to advance.
