THE Jamaica Premier League (JPL), which kicks off this weekend with a shorter-than-usual season due to a very late start, could be the perfect launch pad for Vere United and new coach, Donovan Duckie.

After an extended period of uncertainty before the start of the season was announced, Vere United will open their season against Molynes United in the first game of a double-header at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Monday.

The format of the league will see just one round of matches being played before the start of the play-offs in the league that is scheduled to end in September, almost a third of the regular season.

When the 2019-2020 season was called off in March, Vere United were headed toward certain demotion, sitting dead last in the 12-team league, having won just two of their 25 games up to then.

With no relegation possible after this shortened season, the much-travelled and experienced Duckie will have the freedom to start what he says will be a “rebuilding programme” with the Clarendon-based club.

Duckie, who is in his first season at Vere United and was a vocal advocate of not having a league this year, said he has had a change of heart.

“Initially I thought that was the best decision [to skip this season], but this is the reality we have to deal with…I am also extremely happy for the players to be earning,” he said.

Duckie told the Jamaica Observer this week that the club had just completed 10 days of training, claiming “we have a very young squad”.

He says the club returned only 25 per cent of the team that played in the previous season, adding: “Many youngsters have been added, with a few seniors.”

Duckie was not willing to predict how his experience would help the team when asked if he thought he could at least keep them off the foot of the points tables. “Nothing in football is guaranteed; we are in a rebuilding position.”

Duckie said, given the time they were given to prepare before the start of the competition, it will be difficult to meet their targets.

“We are definitely doing our best [regarding] the time period we have been given to prepare… [it’s] almost impossible to meet our preseason targets [but] our management team is doing their best and I am very grateful,” he noted.

Duckie said the playing conditions in which they will not have any home games, no fans will be allowed to attend matches, play will be within the confines of a bubble, and the season was shortened was “the new normal, therefore, I guess we have to learn to adapt”.

— Paul Reid