Waterhouse to conduct comprehensive review of 2025-26 JPL season

Following Waterhouse FC’s surprise exit at the quarter-final stage of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), club president Donovan White says they will conduct a comprehensive review before making any decisions regarding the future of the coaching staff.

Waterhouse were eliminated after suffering a 2-0 defeat to defending champions Cavalier in the second leg of their quarter-final clash at the National Stadium on Wednesday. The Drewsland-based club lost the two-leg tie 4-2 on aggregate after the first match ended 2-2.

Argentina-born head coach Javier Ainstein, who replaced Marcell Gayle in January, is reportedly out of contract at the end of the season. However, White noted that no immediate decision will be made until the club completes its evaluation process.

“Like everything else at the end of the season, we will do our review of the previous season,” said White. “We will plan our strategy for the next one and we will evaluate all our important and critical elements and we will review our  coaching staff and, when the time is right, we will make those announcements.”

Ainstein recorded 15 wins from the 26 games in charge of Waterhouse since appointment in January as they finished fourth in the JPL standings with 65 points.  

White has praised the work done by Ainstein and his technical staff since taking charge of the team earlier this year.

“He has done a phenomenal amount of work with organising the team, organising our strategy around how we play, our tactics and the results speak for themselves and it is a matter of record,” he said. “In fact, we really believe that we have a good coaching team, so we are going to review everything that has happened this season and, when the time is right, we will make the announcement on what we will do going forward.”

However, White admitted that the club fell short of its main objective for the campaign, which was to secure qualification to Concacaf competition by finishing in the top three of the league.

“Our aim for the season was to get back to Concacaf and so we wanted to be in the top three,” he said. “We didn't quite make it there and, instead, we lost in the quarter-finals. So we just take it back to the drawing board, re-strategise and come back next season.”