Gayle’s love for Waterhouse

A year ago, Marcel Gayle made the move to coach his home town football club Waterhouse FC after a long stint at The University of the West Indies.

The first year of the new arrangement saw Waterhouse reaching the final of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL), but Gayle says the club is working to improve.

In April, Waterhouse succumbed 0-1 to Portmore United in the RSPL final to close Gayle’s first season at the helm, and he’s hoping for more in the fast-approaching campaign.

“If we go one step further, definitely we’re going to be champions, but we’re staying humble, we’re staying upbeat,” Gayle said.

The man known as ‘Fuzzy’ to everyone in football, reckons the 12 months since his appointment has helped.

“We know what we are, what we’re about. They fully know now what I’m about and where we want to take the club,” Gayle added. “We’re an inner-city club, but we want to change the outlook and make it be a place where people from outside want to come, not just in Jamaica, people want to come to Waterhouse because they see the vision.”

As the team prepares for its second-leg assignment against Costa Rican outfit Herediano in the Concacaf Club Championships after last week’s 1-1 draw at the National Stadium, Gayle recounted his love for the community where he lives.

More than a coach

“I’m not just a coach at Waterhouse, I’m also a fan, I’m also an uncle, also a team member, so my heart, my blood runs through Waterhouse.”

Thankful for his time coaching at the University of the West Indies, he tabled, “What I can impact at Waterhouse, I can’t impact nowhere else, I guess the university, because at the university, I mean, you have to matriculate just to qualify at the university. The worst that is going to happen at the university is you might end up being a bank teller.”

“At Waterhouse, you have 5,000 lives, you have broken homes and fatherless kids and football is the only vehicle out of poverty, and that’s the reality. And if I can save 1,000 lives, for me, even not winning the Premier League, that would be a plus for me personally,” Gayle added.

Waterhouse will face Herediano on Thursday at 9 p.m.