Newly appointed Montego Bay United technical director Xavier Gilbert says the appointment will help him continue his development as a coach, and that his ambition in the new role is to take the club back to the pinnacle of local football and give it stronger presence on the international transfer market.Gilbert started out as a coach of women's football with Excelsior High school and Waterhouse FC. He also coached the Reggae Girlz U17 and the U20 teams, before being made assistant to the senior girls’ team for a number of years.He also took charge of the senior Reggae Girlz, in an interim role, for a few months in 2023.That same year, Gilbert took his first stint in men's football when he was appointed by Arnett Gardens Football Club, silencing his doubters with two excellent seasons with the 'Junglists'.After his impressive run with Arnett, MoBay came calling last season, and despite not winning the title or getting to the final, the team’s overall strong showing in the Jamaica Premier League encouraged the club to keep him on. Now they have elevated his position to technical director, giving him full control of the club's football programmes."It (role) entails the overall running and operations of football within the club, from the academy straight up to the Premier League team."It's going to be challenging, but it's important to balance time and put the necessary things in place. It's good [that] we have a good staff to carry out different tasks. "So it's just managing and ensuring the relevant persons carry out their tasks. So, we will have a team to deal with different aspect and tasks to be carried out; but for all programmes everybody will work under my guidance," Gilbert told The Gleaner.However, on a personal basis, the veteran coach said the appointment will help him grow and prepare for similar roles in the future."For sure. The direction in which the club is moving and what we have achieved so far, it's important that I get the opportunity in such a role for my development moving forward, and the experience garnered will propel me to take on any such challenge in the future."Of course, bringing back the title to Montego Bay and to develop the players from the academy right up to the senior team is big on the agenda."Preparing the players as best as possible for the international market and getting as many people as we can in the national set-up, that's the goal, and hopefully, we can benefit from player sales when we prepare those players," he continued.He revealed that one of the plans to help them achieve their objectives is to recruit the best young talent from western Jamaica, from which they hope to forge a formidable unit and, at the same time, prepare them for the international market."That's the focus, to get back there (best level), among the other things I have mentioned, and ensure we have players entering the international market."It has started already — the plan to get the best talent from western Jamaica. There are players from that side of the island who are playing elsewhere, and we want to maximise on those talents and ensure the club continue to build and grow," he said.livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com