MAY PEN, Clarendon – It was a nerve-wracking end to the season, but as it turned out, Clarendon’s two Red Stripe Premier League teams managed to stave off relegation from the country’s top football competition.

For the central Clarendon-based Humble Lion, safety was secured in the penultimate round with a last-gasp 1-0 win over parish rivals Sporting Central Academy.

The latter battled until the final whistle of the season to secure a seventh successive year in the premiership following a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Montego Bay United.

Humble Lion, who placed fourth last season, finished ninth this time on 46 points, while the south-west Clarendon-based Sporting finished 10th on 44 points – the same as 11th place Highgate United, who joined Savannah in relegation due to an inferior goal difference.

Michael Ricketts, president of the Clarendon Football Association, said despite the disappointing showing, it was important for the parish’s football that both teams remained in the league.

“We have a rich legacy in youth football but we haven’t been able to really make that transition at the senior level, so it was important for us to keep both teams in the league,” he said.

“Having both of them in the Premier League has done wonders for the parish,” he added, “and when you look at a Humble Lion, for instance, it’s not just about football. Their presence in the competition has been good for their community.”

But even amidst the joy of retaining their premiership status, many fans here continue to be puzzled by their teams’ lack of genuine progress in the Premier League. The puzzle is particularly extreme in the case of Sporting, whose talent pool and exciting brand of football often belies their paltry league standing.

Vassell Reynolds, who is currently an advisor to the board of management at Sporting, believes the club’s main problem – which he thinks spreads across the league – has to do with coaching stability.

“I can’t say it’s because of poor management or lack of money why the team hasn’t been doing well over the years because this is one of the better management structures I have seen at the club in a while,” he said. “What we do pick up is that sometimes we tend to make crucial (coaching) changes, unavoidable or not, at crucial points,” he added.

“Changes will create an impact, good or bad, and sometimes it can disrupt the flow of the team,” said Reynolds, who has had a number of interim coaching stints at Sporting.

The club experienced four coaching changes this season.

The Clarendon Park side started the season with Nigel Stewart, who was promoted from the Under-21 set-up, but after an indifferent run of form, he was replaced in the interim by Reynolds.

After a few games, Reynolds would later make way for what was said to be the long-term appointment of Lenny Hyde — who had ironically just resigned from his post at Humble Lion — which was taken up by the much-travelled Geoffrey Maxwell.

However, Hyde, who has won three Premier League titles with three different teams, failed to deliver at Sporting and was sacked after winning just five and losing nine of his 17 games in charge. He was replaced by Under-21 coach Merron Gordon two games before the season ended.

“If you look at the teams that do well year-to-year – Tivoli, Portmore, Harbour View and Boys’ Town – they have a certain level of stability,” added Reynolds. “Even when a Portmore and a Harbour View do make changes, most times they tend to make appointments from within so that they can maintain the stability,” he said.

Reynolds also reckons that Sporting’s failures over the years might now be weighing heavily on the players’ psyche. “I personally believe the players have become frustrated with not being able to ‘actualise’ their full potential over years,” he said.

He now hopes the club will “take the bold step to identify a coaching staff and give them a mandate to build on”.

“Obviously, if things are going haywire you will need to step in, but you also need some amount of stability,” Reynolds noted.