Jamaican goal keeper Rickettes denied Entry into the UK

[truetrini]

Ricketts may have played last game
By Simon Parker


Donovan Ricketts was not allowed back into England after international duty
City are unlikely to see Donovan Ricketts again after immigration officials blocked him from coming back into the country.

Ricketts, whose contract is up at the end of the season, is stuck in Jamaica - and looks to have played his final game at Valley Parade.

The 30-year-old keeper, one of the highest earners in the squad, would also be in breach of contract if he is unable to turn up to work for training.
Ricketts was stopped at Heathrow Airport on Friday as he returned with Omar Daley from international duty.

An official noticed that although he had a valid passport and work permit, Ricketts had not got the necessary stamp in his documentation to meet UK employment laws.

He was promptly refused entry and put back on a plane to New York, where he hoped to get the passport stamped at the British Embassy.

But when City contacted the immigration agency in Sheffield, they were told that Ricketts had not completed the paperwork within the six-month deadline of the work permit being issued - and therefore it was viewed as invalid.

City could have applied for a new work permit but that would have been turned down because his contract is up in three months; Jamaica are outside FIFA's top 70, so he does not meet the international requirements; and he is no longer the club's first-choice goalkeeper.

"We tried everything we could to get Donovan back in but rules are rules," said City boss Stuart McCall.
"I like the fella and I'm disappointed that he's back in Jamaica. I would love him to get back but the longer things go on, it doesn't look good."

Ricketts, who last played for City at Wrexham in January, saw a move to QPR collapse in the transfer window because of work-permit problems.

McCall brought in Scott Loach on loan to replace him and the Watford youngster has appeared in every game since.

[weary1969]

Whatttttttttttttttt

[just cool]

Poor guy.

[fishs]

 That is heartbreak thing. Is the worst because is not like yuh get fired or lay off. I real sorry for him

[dcs]

Damn.

I hope this is not a preview of things to come if we don't boost our rankings...it wasn't the main cause but it sure as hell didn't help.  Somebody slack off on the paperwork...maybe his agent handled that?

[freakazoid]

that is real rubbish dread, real hard to be put in ah position like that. does he have family n england ( wife and kids)? sportsman life have plenty pressure yes

thats y Yorke and ames became citizens  of england and canada respectively

[Midknight]

thats y Yorke and ames became citizens  of england and canada respectively

thats y certain men does stay home and play Proleague. Dese damn papers is a hell of a thing

[andre samuel]

Ah wonder if dat is the reason why some players doh like tuh come back to play for their country?

Interesting!

[Filho]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp. Slackness all around. So doh blame the system....the man had everything set up for easy entry to the country, but when it was time to do his part he lapse.

Heartbreaking stuff, but totally and easily avoidable.

[Midknight]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp.

You acting like if all the man had to do was line up and get a stamp on a Sunday afternoon. Neither one of us will know the truth of the matter, but often, these simple administrative procedures require a lot of other "simple" administrative procedures to be done in order to get the papers required to drop in the paperwork to get the papers required...and of course, in bureaucracy, nothing is ever simple.

Stay there and feel they want to make things easy for us.

[bajanscout]

alot of those guys getting turn down cause of how jamaica is rank in the world they hav to be ranked in the 70's

[freakazoid]

so then it makes sense 4 our pros to make themselves available for internationals that may help to increase the teams rankngs

[bajanscout]

so am moderator y u aint delete true trini news he is d moderator in d reggae boyz forum he copyin and pasting news from dey over here so wat is d difference ?i think u is d jamaican dick rider and u dint like me talking bout yuh man an dem so u delete it but he could do it...again it aint u flew nor tallman is d next 1 i forget he name   

[Touches]

All it could be is the damn immigration officer didnt get no sex the night before and in a bad mood or he find out he wife hornin him.

Is who yuh get in the airport on the day yes.

I have plenty partner who get mess up from dread immigration officers.

If the man was cool he coulda let it slide and tell him handle he scene.

But it real hard for Ricketts...d man come like a deportee. To start over from scratch jest so. Pace.

[freakazoid]

allyuh know ah still vex bout this thing, ah pray every thing wuk out 4 u boy. God have something better 4 u be strong my brother

[Bakes]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp. Slackness all around. So doh blame the system....the man had everything set up for easy entry to the country, but when it was time to do his part he lapse.

Heartbreaking stuff, but totally and easily avoidable.

You could try and put the ultimate blame on him, but remember some of these fellas may be unsophisticated when it comes to managing their own affairs, or simply busy...not an excuse, but perhaps helping explain.  I'm almost sure the club (likely they have, or should) have people handling stuff like this, he's not the only non-European they've ever dealt with...then his own agent.

The ball was dropped all around...and the cynic in me, seeing that his contract is up for renewal and the club isn't making a push...makes me think the club was somewhat complicit as well.

[WestCoast]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp. Slackness all around. So doh blame the system....the man had everything set up for easy entry to the country, but when it was time to do his part he lapse.

Heartbreaking stuff, but totally and easily avoidable.

You could try and put the ultimate blame on him, but remember some of these fellas may be unsophisticated when it comes to managing their own affairs, or simply busy...not an excuse, but perhaps helping explain.  I'm almost sure the club (likely they have, or should) have people handling stuff like this, he's not the only non-European they've ever dealt with...then his own agent.

The ball was dropped all around...and the cynic in me, seeing that his contract is up for renewal and the club isn't making a push...makes me think the club was somewhat complicit as well.

nice synopsis Bakes
i concur

[Filho]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp.

You acting like if all the man had to do was line up and get a stamp on a Sunday afternoon. Neither one of us will know the truth of the matter, but often, these simple administrative procedures require a lot of other "simple" administrative procedures to be done in order to get the papers required to drop in the paperwork to get the papers required...and of course, in bureaucracy, nothing is ever simple.

Stay there and feel they want to make things easy for us.

Midknight. I have some experience in this regard. Truth is, he already got the bulk of the  paperwork done. The hardest part, that requires the clubs lawyers etc. was done. He already had his work permit and nope..getting the final stamp is not very complicated. In fact it relatively easy..so much so that if the 6 month period hadn't lapsed he would have had no problem getting the stamp in the US as he tried to do afterward. It would be one thing if he tried to get the stamp and got held up by red tape. Sounds like he didn't even try, so I doh understand your point. doh mean i not feeling sympathy for the man. i real feel for him, but it eh make no sense to always try to pass the buck to the big bad establishment. a big man hadda hold his hands up sometimes. With so much on the line he lapse. Bakes makes excellent points, but this is his living we talking about so he owes it to himself to understand the process. At the end of the day, short of the club misguiding him, there really was no roadblock preventing him from getting his stamp.

I agree with Bakes that the club and his agent supposed to stay on top of him and make sure he gets it done right. Club probably doh value him that much and sounds like he was getting paid well by club standards..so the smart men probably happy to see him go. Just a possible scenario. The again his contract was up in 3 months, so not much sense in going through all that when they could just say they not renewing his contract. But like I said...really feel bad for him. But we have posters here who may one day be in a similar situation...all I seeing is one setta comments about 'oh shucks..and look how they do the man'. You cyah learn nutten from that. I hope by saying you hadda take more responsibility for your own affairs, maybe someone here will avoid what happen to Ricketts

[Bakes]

I hope by saying you hadda take more responsibility for your own affairs, maybe someone here will avoid what happen to Ricketts

Agree with everything you posted in response to Midknight...but especially this last part.  Ultimately as an adult you HAVE to be ontop of your own situation.

[Midknight]

I'm not in disagreement with either you Filho or BnS.

I was simply underscoring the fact that no one here knew exactly what stage of the procedure he was at. You apparently seem to have a much better grasp of the British work permit system than I do so I will defer to you on that with no contestation.

Sometimes though, when you know the kind of thinking that goes on behind the red tape, especially from first hand experience, and you see this kind of thing going down, one can't help but be bitter.

[Disgruntled_Trini]

But it real hard for Ricketts...d man come like a deportee. To start over from scratch jest so. Pace.

That is exactly it

so much of his country men leave and never come back that they fed up

[Big Magician]

not good...stay strong rickettes

[Peong]

He should be able to pick up someting in de MLS.

[Bakes]

He should be able to pick up someting in de MLS.

I think hope so too...although goalkeeping isn't a position of weakness in MLS.

[Agent Jack Bauer]

Ah wonder if he have a agent and how much he paying him to handle he business..........d club seem like dey "fighting" to bring him back to since he have an expiring contract and will be in breach if he doh return by a certain date

[capodetutticapi]

i hope he remember how to plant garden.

[just cool]

the UK have to go easy on former british caribbean colonies. WTF !! jamaica is in the britishcommwealth so why all the f@ckin hassle! comonwealth members should not need any dogone thing to get into england , just ah bloody plane ticket and a smile.

PS:   look at the US policy, puerto ricians , guam , and USVI doh need no nothing to come here, just ah plane fare BC they are part of the US common  wealth, why can't england do the same sssttttuuuueeeppppssss !!!

[vb]

Ricketts may have played last game
By Simon Parker



But when City contacted the immigration agency in Sheffield, they were told that Ricketts had not completed the paperwork within the six-month deadline of the work permit being issued - and therefore it was viewed as invalid.

So who fault it reall is?

VB

[Diambars]

Poor fella. Man was making a good living and now he have to find a new club outside England.

At the same time..one big steeeupse. Imagine, he is issued his work permit..has en entire six months to do some paperwork and get a  stamp in his passport, and he didn't do it. He had 6 months. Sorry, but as much as I feel for the man, he do real nonsense, given that there was so much on the line. Plus..how could the airline let him even get on board a plane to England when he missing the stamp. Slackness all around. So doh blame the system....the man had everything set up for easy entry to the country, but when it was time to do his part he lapse.

Heartbreaking stuff, but totally and easily avoidable.

You could try and put the ultimate blame on him, but remember some of these fellas may be unsophisticated when it comes to managing their own affairs, or simply busy...not an excuse, but perhaps helping explain. I'm almost sure the club (likely they have, or should) have people handling stuff like this, he's not the only non-European they've ever dealt with...then his own agent.

The ball was dropped all around...and the cynic in me, seeing that his contract is up for renewal and the club isn't making a push...makes me think the club was somewhat complicit as well.

From behind the scenes experience ah could easily see this being the problem.

[Pointman]

All de best son...maybe he cud get a contract elsewhere.