Bailey suspension a cover-up – Butler
PHOENIX ACADEMY boss Craig Butler has broken his silence on the Leon Bailey disciplinary situation, jumping to the defence of the under-pressure Aston Villa winger.
Bailey, who was suspended for Jamaica’s Concacaf Nations League semi-final against the United States on Thursday, has been facing backlash since a controversial interview on the ‘To be Honest’ podcast recently.
Bailey, who has also been getting a lot of stick for his performances in a Jamaican shirt, complained about being booked in economy class to travel to international assignments, sharing hotel rooms, and about security concerns.
According to Butler, Bailey’s suspension was a cover-up over dealing with those same issues, and he facilitated a meeting between the player and a member of the coaching staff, who tried to persuade the player to play the US game.
“I have been pretty silent on this indiscipline accusation of my son and client Leon Bailey,” Butler said in a statement on his Instagram page.
“The fact is that up until the night before the game a coach was seeking to convince him to play with phone calls up until the wee hours of the morning. I know because I facilitated them.
“In any event, he had decided at this time to take a break and make his point known that he wasn’t going to pay anymore to upgrade his (hotel) room and until they (JFF) made sure his travel was taken care of and security and respect was shown, he would take a break.”
He argued that a professional player should not have to beg or negotiate to travel business class in order to get legroom and that, as a result, Bailey suffered many injuries after returning from international duty, including hamstring, thigh, calf and others.
“And people always say he is injury-prone,” said Butler.
He revealed that Bailey’s reason for wanting his own room is that he is often forced to share a hotel room with teammates who stay up until 4 a.m., which also forces him to stay up later than he wants to.
Bailey also complained about not having any security to ward off unwanted media and fans, and Butler agreed this also needs to improve.
“Security for players at this level is very serious, and he gets zero security. This is the short version, but suffice to say, he did not make the decision (to take a break) one week, but a couple months ago. The JFF cover-up that it was a disciplinary matter is not true.”
livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com
