Following his marathon press conference at his unveiling Monday, where he spoke about his approach to the Gambia job, Jonathan McKinstry will tomorrow reveal which Scorpions will play the double- headed World Cup qualifiers against Seychelles and Gabon next month.
The squad and its composition will also reveal how depth is his knowledge of Gambian players and how far has it impress fans hungry for sexy football after the boring years of Tom Sainfiet.
But McKinstry has a lot of respect for the achievement already recorded under Tom and has warned that any new addition to the crop of players will have to fight for their places.
The new coach however made it clear that he would not call any player not having regular matches unless the player’s joblessness started near to an international fixture.
A statement from the Gambia Football Federation said with visible excitement that the coach will name the squad ”amid pomp and fanfare’’ at 11 am tomorrow at Football House.
The new coach is taking over in just under two weeks ahead of The Gambia hosting Seychelles in Morrocco on June 8 before travelling to Gabon to play on 11 June in the World Cup qualifiers. Already the Gambia played two matches out of ten in the qualifiers losing both.
McKinstry will hope to load his Scorpions with a venomous sting to see through the reminder of the matches starting next month. Also, the African Cup of Nations qualifiers for Morocco 2025 will start soon once the draw is made. This is where McKinstry cannot fail. Having tasted action in the tournament twice and reaching the quarter finals, The Gambia cannot afford to miss out.
For the beginning of his journey, McKinstry would have to grapple with the lack of a home for his squad which must play all matches away until the national stadium is fixed to Caf standards, not expected until August.
Again, though he is opened to staying in the country for much of the time, the new coach said it makes sense to make use of easier and cheaper means of transportation in Europe where most of his players are based anyway, than presenting the GFF with heavy air ticket bills all the time he needs to move around for work. This suggests McKinstry, like coach Tom Sainfiet, will logically have to spend a great deal of working time in Europe.
