Many teenage Cayman footballers have been given chances to raise their games abroad and now the slightly younger ones will have a golden opportunity too.
That’s because Fitzroy Simpson, the former Jamaican international who starred for the Reggae Boyz at the World Cup finals in France 1998, is scouting for the best youngsters to recruit to the United Kingdom where he is based.
With the approval of Jeffrey Webb, president of the Cayman Islands Football Association and with the backing of the minister of sport, Mark Scotland, Simpson intends to target the most promising kids.
Simpson lives in Swindon, two hours west of London where he is building up an envious squad of youngsters through his Premier Coaches programme. It has already produced a number of apprentices, aka scholars, who have signed with top pro clubs like Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. Simpson also runs his agency Goald Football Management, representing players from all over the world.
Cayman’s Sebastian Martinez is one brilliant youngster Simpson expects to develop into a top pro in the English leagues, even though the 12 year-old is tiny and has only limited experience of the English game. Martinez has shone with Cayman Academy under coach Virgil Seymour but to reach a higher level consensus is that he needs to move abroad.
Martinez has just returned to Cayman after six weeks living with Simpson and his wife Clare in Swindon, learning the English style and playing for Swindon Town’s Under-13s.
Sebastian was taken there by his father Barry at the start of the summer vacation.
Simpson arrived in George Town with Sebastian on Wednesday to stay for 10 days with Clare and two of his youngest of three children to scout Cayman talent.
Sebastian said before leaving Swindon: “The Simpson family really welcomed me into a new culture. They showed me different food and I enjoyed the TV and it’s been very exciting and I hope to come back maybe in the winter.
“From being in England I’ve seen a totally different style of football. You have to have much better control and passing ability. It’s faster and more physical.
“Highlights were playing against Liverpool and Aston Villa. I did well, I think. The Swindon coaches helped me to improve my style of football.
“I’ve tried as much as I could to get away from players using my skill and technique. Against the little teams we’ve done well but against the bigger teams we’ve come up a bit short.
“At Cayman Academy I’ll be telling about my time here and I hope it’s a great chance to play professional here. The Swindon coaches taught me some drills which I will practice in Cayman.
I really need to work on my strength on the ball.”
Simpson is sponsored by the Pertemps Recruitment agency in his home town who hope he finds some Cayman gems like Martinez.
Sharon Williams, Pertemps recruitment consultant, said: “We’ve actually been sponsoring Premier Coaches for four months and we’ve had massive satisfaction from seeing the young talent improving.
“It’s nice to see Premier Coaches developing youth football in around the Swindon areas. We’ve now expanded our horizons to the Cayman Islands and hopefully Sebastian will be the first of many others.
“Fitzroy is going on an observational opportunity with our proud backing and we hope he will be successful in finding fresh talent.”
Simpson said: “In Cayman will target 11-13 year-olds because by the time you get to 15 the catch up time takes too long. It’s too big a gulf. Plus, a positive with Cayman is that their school holidays are in conjunction with the British system.
“Swindon Town generously offered the observational opportunity for Sebastian to continue his development. So we want to grow Pertemps over in Cayman and make them aware that they are sponsors of Premier Coaches.”
(Simpson’s two sons, Jake, 16, and Jordan, 12, are both doing well in the Swindon Town system.)
“Sebastian has played against Liverpool, Aston Villa, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Birmingham and Nottingham Forest. The coaches at Swindon are immensely impressed with him and have officially asked him to come back during the school holidays.
“My trip is like a chief scout really, to monitor more Cayman talent.”
Of Martinez, he added: “Since Sebastian has stayed in my home, I feel I now have a third son. He’s been welcome and fitted into my family and when he goes back to Cayman it will be like missing another person in the house. He’s been a real pleasure having around.
“On a professional note, I’ve been more than happy with his progress. Daily, he’s been asked to punch above his weight and adapted well. You can see in his eyes he wants to be a part of something which he loves.
“In Cayman he is an absolute talent with no competition but that’s not good. Once you get into a reality situation at the tender age of 12, leaving his family and loved ones and normal environment, it’s hard, but he’s overcome that hurdle.
“Role reversals, I’m not sure some of my boys could have done that. Everything I’ve asked of him, he’s done.
“The most satisfying thing about him is – and I’m pleased with his father Barry and the support of the Cayman Islands Football Association – is that he has never been taught to play.
“The boys I coach have been taught from the age of six. So you know that Seb is a natural talent. He’s been subjected to the professional daily demands of what it takes and he’s caught up.
“What he has, which is natural, is technique. I have to teach that here. He’s come with that. I think there’s a massive marriage here. His size is not a problem. Nature says he’s going to grow.
“Football is a global sport and Sebastian is like an ambassador for the Cayman Islands which means I have to go. I’m looking forward to meeting up with the Cayman FA and also coach Carl Brown, who I call Pops.
“I’m going there on business to find, see, teach and put down a platform so others can follow Sebastian’s path. There’s no point in sending out a torch bearer if he’s not going to send out a light for others.
“We’re not going to say we’ll make the Cayman Islands a massive football nation but if we can find one or two who become household names, great. If it wasn’t for Maradona they wouldn’t have had a great Argentina team.
“If it wasn’t for the Reggae Boyz team that I played in, they wouldn’t have heard of Jamaica. Dwight Yorke, Russell Latapy and Shaka Hislop made Trinidad and Tobago.
“Now if it wasn’t for Sebastian Martinez they wouldn’t recognize Cayman. It’s the same all over the world.
“You need a torch bearer. Sebastian is Cayman’s. I witnessed that with Jamaica when we qualified for the France finals. Agents from all over the world were arriving at the Norman Manley International Airport and by the time we set foot in France, most of them were already signed to big clubs.
“What Caymanians have is a British passport and that is a plus and easy access into the greatest league in the world, the UK market.
“I hope to put down a structure with coach Brown, implement it, monitor it… the whole lot.”
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