...president stops training for meeting.
Members of the senior national team want T&T Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams to stay away from the team, and stop interfering with its management.
John-Williams then attempted to influence the players to play an exhibition match against Equatorial Guinea on June 10, despite the match being rejected by Hart.
The players say they were taken aback that the president of the Association could be so bold faced as to bypass the management team’s decision and attempt to deal with them. “What is the message this man sending to us? That he is the boss?,” asked one player who opted for anonymity.
The players told John-Williams that they were not in a position to make a decision and would respond to him later that evening, after discussing the issue with their management.
According to the players, once they learnt that Hart rejected the game, it was easy to arrive at their decision. “In the first instance, neither John-Williams nor any official of the TTFA has a right to be speaking with the members of the team without going through the management. We find that extremely distasteful and disrespectful, and president or no president, it was an awful choice.”
Sources say that John-Williams, who replaced Raymond Tim Kee as TTFA president on 29 November 2015, was also turned away by Hart when he attempted to stage the match.
“It simply did not make sense,” said one player, “We are involved in three matches against Peru, Uruguay and China on May 23 and 27 and June 3 respectively. The matches are being played in Lima and Montevideo, before we head to China for a match in Qin Huang Dao on June 3.
“It will be a real test for every single player, having to travel from China back home, and we are certain to be very tired after all that travel. We believe that our coach made the right decision in rejecting the match which John-Williams wanted to put on on June 10. That made no sense since we probably would still be leg weary.”
Contacted yesterday, Hart refused to comment on the incident and declined to confirm or deny whether it took place while John-Williams did not respond to calls.