Molynes chairman defends split with Thomas amid contract, salary dispute

DESPITE a less-than-amicable situation between Molynes United and Jermaine Thomas, club’s Chairman Peter Higgins says he has a lot of respect for their former coach but felt change was necessary as they seek to move up the Legend Jamaica Premier League table. As the Jamaica Observer revealed on Tuesday, Molynes decided to move on from Reggae Boyz Under-20 assistant coach Thomas following their 1-2 loss to Mount Pleasant Football Academy on Monday. It was the club’s sixth defeat in eight games and they are sitting in 12th on six points, one point above the relegation zone. The Observer has learnt that Thomas, who was in the role for nearly three years, was officially dismissed on Wednesday after refusing to resign when asked to by the club’s management on Tuesday. The Observer reported on Wednesday that Thomas is owed outstanding salary payments and would also receive more, given he had several months remaining on his contract. Reports elsewhere said that Thomas could take legal action, with the club owing nearly $1.5 million. Speaking with the Observer on Friday, Higgins declined to confirm the details of the reports but revealed the separation was a necessary one for the club. “We’re going through a little transition now but I don’t want to get into any personal thing about, or any he said, she said type of things,” he said. “I’m seeing the stuff in the media, and we deliberately say we’re not commenting because we think it’s a personal issue between the coach and ourselves in terms of the separation.” “Football is a results business, and we’re not pleased with the results so we just made a decision. That’s the long and short of it.” Higgins says while the club intends to honour its financial obligations to Thomas, that did not mean he had to remain in the position. “I’m a banker; if my boss is not pleased with me, they can fire me any time I want, whether or not they owe me. They’re not going to say, ‘Because I owe you I can’t fire you.’ That just doesn’t sound sensible,” he said. “We have some outstanding financial obligations, and we’ve written to the coach to say ‘This is how we plan to settle it.’ ”

Jermaine Thomas, former Molynes United coach (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Higgins, though, says the club has no personal issues with Thomas. “I don’t believe that when these types of things happen it needs to be public,” he said. “Jermaine is a very nice guy, and I have nothing but good things to say about him; I have nothing negative I can say. But, at the end of the day it’s about the results.” The Observer was unable to contact Thomas despite several attempts. Under Thomas, Molynes avoided relegation in the past three seasons, with consecutive 12th-place finishes in the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 season. The club have already moved on and hired veteran local Anthony Patrick, who returns to the JPL after leading Racing United to the play-offs last season. Higgins believes Patrick is the right choice to elevate Molynes, given his prior achievements locally. “He has been a successful coach, certainly at the schoolboy level. You have seen the results; I think it speaks for itself,” said Higgins. “We have also seen his win rate both at his last club, Racing, and previously at Waterhouse. He actually worked with us before (for) a short time but he had done some work with us before.” Although results aren’t certain, Higgins says the club now has optimism. “We’re hoping it can turn around in the near future. We think it can.”