A lot of work to do now - Ricketts

NEWLY RE-ELECTED Jamaica Football Federation President, Michael Ricketts, says his new administration is ready to get the ball rolling now that the long-awaited presidential poll is over.

Ricketts, who defeated challenger Raymond Anderson 39 votes to 17 at the Royalton Resort in Negril yesterday, said he was always confident of victory.

“There was absolutely no doubt in my mind I would win. We canvassed these numbers a million times. We fell short by one because we were canvassing for 40-16 but came up with 39-17,” Ricketts said.

The JFF President told The Gleaner that there is a lot of work to do now.

“We have a massive repair work to do because the football was brought into disrepute a multiplicity of times, so we do have some repair work to do. I am pretty certain that we have the expertise, we have the persons with the necessary skills, and I am pretty certain that from here on, we will get some positives.

“We have no time for the rear -view mirror. We’re not even looking behind us, we’re just going forward, and we want to do so with the highest level of alacrity,” he added.

As it relates to growing football in Jamaica, Ricketts stated that things would be done differently.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

“Football must be the winner, and I want to ensure that all those persons who have supported me, we must sit together. In addition to everybody who has an interest in the growth and development of football, we must sit together and move on from here,” Ricketts said.

“I must express my absolute gratitude for everyone that supported me. I was torn down, treated like an outcast. I was disrespected, but my work was vindicated. I was vindicated today,” Ricketts said.

Meanwhile, Ricketts said he isn’t opposed to working with anyone from the slate of his opponent, former vice president Anderson.

“We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody who can make a contribution. I mean, it is football, and even though I have been hurt emotionally sometimes, it is football. We have some repair jobs to do, and I am just very, very excited at the prospects of what will happen from here on,” he said.

Ricketts had defeated Stewart Stephenson to complete the JFF’s 2015-2019 term after the death of then-president Captain Horace Burrell in 2017. Ricketts was then re-elected for his first full term in 2019.