Sorry about the misleading tagline, but I came across something interesting last night while listening to BBC Radio 5 live’s Monday Night Club.
Near the end of the pod (around the 1 hour, 41 minute mark), someone in the crowd asked the panel – John Motson, Steve Claridge, Ian McGarry, Robbie Savage and John Barnes – if they thought Junior Hoilett would make the David Bentley mistake of transferring to a bigger club only to sit on the sidelines and rot.
Barnes, former coach of the Jamaican national team, fielded the question relaying a story about when Sam Allardyce was trying to arrange a work permit for the young player, and asked Barnes to write a letter detailing his intent to pick the youngster to the Jamaican squad.
Barnes did write the letter, and he says Hoilett instead went and played for the Canadian national team.
I was under the impression that Junior had never taken the field for Canada, but I may well be wrong on that. Though this little tidbit really does not say anything too groundbreaking, it does bring a smile to my face every time somebody refers to Hoilett as Canadian.
I first saw him play a few years ago, watching a poor stream of a St. Pauli match after I had heard of a young Canadian kid doing well with the rebel club.
Somebody – sorry cannot recall who – put forward a theory on The Fan590’s The Soccer Show, that perhaps Junior was waiting to get himself secure, in a solid contract with his club team before even bothering to consider national team duty.
With both Canada and Jamaica he would be committing to repeated hops across the pond for matches, an amount of travel that in the past has been frowned upon for international players.
Should Hoilett move in this transfer window, thus securing his future, expect some news on the international front; cannot blame a fellow for taking care of his career before committing to a passion.
Let’s hope Barnes was right, and that Hoilett did choose Canada over Jamaica.
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