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Offline Flex

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2019/20 T&T Pro League Thread
« on: December 22, 2018, 08:34:27 AM »
To be updated..

« Last Edit: August 22, 2019, 01:53:59 AM by Flex »
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Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2018, 08:35:20 AM »
Cunupia ready for Pro League plunge.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).


CUNUPIA FC are seeking to take the plunge and enter the Pro League as early as next year, according to its coach Michael De Four.

Cunupia had a productive 2018 TT Super League season, winning the League Cup last Sunday courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Queen’s Park and placing fourth in the League on 45 points, behind FC Santa Rosa, Queen’s Park and Prison Service.

And De Four is hopeful his team will be able to meet the registration fee (this year’s fee for a club interested in the Pro League was $130,000) and participate in the highest level of club football in T&T.

“We would like to get in the Pro League as soon as (next) year,” said De Four, during an interview on Thursday. “We have shown consistency, discipline, good management ability as a club.”

He continued, “We want a challenge to be able to compete at the highest level in this country and showcase our talent so the national coach will have an easier viewing of us. It’s that kind of aspiration that we have as a club. That can only be done by performing at the highest level.”

De Four, who has been head coach of Cunupia FC since its existence, believes he can bring something new to the table.

Asked about the players’ mood since Sunday’s League Cup triumph, De Four said, “Everybody is just elated still. It’s the first major title any Super League club from the Central Zone has lifted in the Super League and it’s the first title in the Super League that we have lifted – and we’ve lifted it in a two-year period.

“We did the same thing when we were in the Championship Division,” he added. “This year we placed fourth (in the League) and lifted a title.”

De Four took part in a coaching course in Brazil two years ago at Cruzeiro and he has been using what he learnt at the popular South American club to good effect.

“The key to the team’s success will be philosophy and the style of football that we’re trying to develop,” he said. “Over the last two years, we’ve fine-tuned a little and it has started to bear fruit.”

He added, “There is always room for improvement which I am working on presently. I was supposed to go to Spain this year but was asked by the president of the club (Narvin Charles) to defer the move until a later date.”

Striker Kevon Woodley has been a key member of his team’s success as he notched 23 goals this season.

But De Four, who has been at Cunupia FC for the past decade, insists the team does not revolve around the ex-national beach soccer striker.

“A player or players of his calibre, at the end of the day, have to be able to play within the style of system (of the team). Even if you are ‘a big player’, if you cannot have that discipline to play in this system you wouldn’t be able to play on the squad – no matter who you are.

“You might have noticed Woodley has been moving away from the post-up, go-to role, and in such doing has been blowing past everyone in the goalscoring (charts). He is playing within the system.”

Cunupia FC achievements:

2012-

Ramsingh Sports World CFA Trophy – Winner

Chaguanas Borough Corporation CFA Hugo Francis Memorial Cup – Winner

CRIL CFA Premier League – Runner-up

TTFA National FA Trophy – Quarter-finalist

CFA Award Recipients – Coach of the Year and Team of the Year

SPORTT Spirit of Sport Award Recipient – Community Team of the Year

2013 –

Sanitank CFA League Cup – Winner

CRIL CFA Premier League – Runner-up

Ramsingh Sports World CFA FA Trophy – Third-place

2014 –

CRIL CFA Premier League – Winner

Chaguanas Borough Corporation CFA Hugo Francis Memorial Cup – Winner

Ramsingh Sports World CFA FA Trophy – Winner

CFA Award Recipients – Coach of the Year and Team of the Year

2015 –

CNG NGC National Super League Championship Division – Third-place

2016 –

CNG NGC National Super League Championship Division – Champion

2017 –

TT Super League, League One – Third place

2018 –

TT Super League – Fourth place

TT Super League, League Cup – Winner

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2019, 01:38:53 AM »
Phillips: Let's do away with Pro League.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


"Let's re­vert to Na­tion­al League foot­ball," said Sam Phillips, for­mer T&T Pro League chair­man, yes­ter­day.

He be­lieves it's a tem­po­rary so­lu­tion to the on­go­ing prob­lems be­ing faced in the coun­try's strug­gling Pro League which has been to­tal­ly de­pen­dant on gov­ern­ment through the Min­istry of Sports and Youth Af­fairs and the Sports Com­pa­ny of T&T for sur­vival.

Speak­ing to Guardian Sports on Fri­day, Phillips, who has held key man­age­r­i­al po­si­tions at some of the coun­try's top foot­ball clubs, said con­sid­er­ing the cur­rent eco­nom­ic en­vi­ron­ment, it will be to­tal­ly un­fair to ask the gov­ern­ment to keep pump­ing mon­ey in­to the league.

Eight of the 10 clubs cur­rent­ly re­ceive grants of $50,000 per month (for sev­en months) to help off-set cost of salaries for play­ers and staff. Last year the gov­ern­ment came to the res­cue of the pro league with a grant of $11.1 mil­lion af­ter com­plaints from a num­ber of play­ers that their clubs were not pay­ing them. The league's start was al­so de­layed by a few months be­cause it had no cash.

But Phillips be­lieves foot­ball or­gan­is­ers can re­turn to the days when there was one na­tion­al league com­pris­ing of dif­fer­ent di­vi­sions.

"It can be called Di­vi­sion One, Two, Three or Four, with the op­tion of us­ing the present pro league as the top di­vi­sion, and play­ers will have the op­tion to work and play if they want. The main thing is that there will not be the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty by clubs to pay play­ers," Phillips said.

"They can even use the same or­gan­is­ers of the dif­fer­ent com­pe­ti­tions to run the af­fairs of var­i­ous di­vi­sions, for ex­am­ple, or­gan­is­ers of the T&T Su­per League can be re­spon­si­ble the Di­vi­sion Two com­pe­ti­tion while those in charge of Re­gion­al As­so­ci­a­tion foot­ball will man­age at the third di­vi­sion and so on."

Phillips has high­light­ed a num­ber of rea­sons for the pro league and clubs' in­abil­i­ty to be self-sus­tain­able and they in­clude the qual­i­ty of play on the field which has been se­vere­ly im­pact­ed by the at­ti­tude, be­hav­iour and in­dis­ci­pline of play­ers and their man­age­ment teams alike. To dri­ve home his point, Phillips said the dress code and de­port­ment of some man­agers/coach­es dur­ing match­es have left much to be de­sired.

Phillips said he has al­so en­coun­tered sit­u­a­tions where some pro league play­ers were seen rep­re­sent­ing am­a­teur clubs at mi­nor leagues which con­fus­es sup­port­ers of see­ing them play for free at one time and hav­ing to pay to see them, at an­oth­er.

Phillips said if there is a re­turn to the Na­tion­al League sys­tem, it will give clubs and or­gan­is­ers suf­fi­cient time to put a pro­fes­sion­al league for­mat in place for the fu­ture, say­ing there can be con­sul­ta­tion among all the stake­hold­ers in the sport be­fore a re­al pro­fes­sion­al league is in­tro­duced.

"Clubs will get the op­por­tu­ni­ty to se­cure its own home grounds and do what is nec­es­sary at the com­mu­ni­ty lev­el to be sus­tain­able. They can al­so fo­cus on be­com­ing com­pli­ant ac­cord­ing to the TTFA and FI­FA reg­u­la­tions," Phillips said.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2019, 10:32:20 AM »
Guys, Sam was a team mate of mine on the 1974 team. I did not always agree  with him, especially when he was with Jack. But he makes sense here. Reorganize the football. When they are on secured footing with serious sponsors(very wishful thinking) then they can venture back into the pro-system.

Offline maxg

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Offline Tiresais

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2019, 05:20:30 AM »
Been saying it for a while - the Professional status is now a chain around the clubs' neck. I know we want player to be able to dedicate 100% and that is what's best for them Long Run in their development, but that's not feasible if they can't put food on their families' plates and if they earn more playing fete matches.

Better to have a competitive semi-pro league with good attendance and promotion/relegation that ensures a competitive league and a sense of worth in our players. It's no surprise we had the first non-trini final for ages in the Caribbean Club Championship - Dominican Republic and Jamaica are paying their players and until we can offer the same security we need to go back to basics.

Offline Tallman

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North East Stars sue Pro League
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2019, 05:51:55 PM »
North East Stars sue Pro League
By Walter Alibey (T&T Pro League)


North East Stars, the 2017 T&T Pro League cham­pi­ons are tak­ing le­gal ac­tions against the League.

A pre-ac­tion pro­to­col let­ter was sent to the League yes­ter­day, a week af­ter the 'Stars' was sus­pend­ed along with three oth­er clubs- Po­lice FC, Point Fortin Civic and Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed for their fail­ure to pay an an­nu­al $130,000 reg­is­tra­tion fee each which was due last sea­son and an­oth­er sim­i­lar this year (2019).

At a meet­ing of the Board last week the quar­tet could not come up with the re­quired $260, 000 which was need­ed to be paid by De­cem­ber 31, 2018.

Guardian Sports learnt that both Cale­do­nia Unit­ed and Po­lice FC are still at­tempt­ing to rene­go­ti­ate a pay­ment plan with the League to se­cure their en­try, while Point Fortin, it is un­der­stood will miss out this year as they are un­able to make the to­tal pay­ment.

Richard Fakoory, Chair­man of the T&T Pro League said the clubs were al­lowed to make pay­ments of $50,000 month­ly un­til De­cem­ber 31 last year, with the in­ten­tion of clear­ing off the bal­ance of their debt by Feb­ru­ary 2019.

"Mor­vant Cale­do­nia, Po­lice and Point Fortin have made pay­ments to date, but the North East club has not paid a sin­gle cent," Fakoory said, not­ing the League is ex­pect­ed to make a fi­nal de­ci­sion soon.

The 'Stars' mean­while will be tak­ing le­gal pro­ceed­ings against the League for its fail­ure to ho­n­our an agree­ment to pay them $1,000,000 that rep­re­sent their win­nings for the 2017 sea­son, which was ex­pect­ed to be used to cov­er its ex­pens­es, in­clud­ing the reg­is­tra­tion fees for both years.

North East Stars in their pre-ac­tion pro­to­col let­ter from At­tor­ney Bar­rie R. N, chal­lenged a re­lease by the League on No­vem­ber 7 last year, which stat­ed the club was en­ti­tled to pay all its ad­min­is­tra­tive fees as there were no prize monies to be had. The 'Stars' re­fut­ed this how­ev­er and point­ed to the min­utes of the Ju­ly 2017 meet­ing in which the par­tic­i­pat­ing clubs were told that prize monies were put on hold.

Ac­cord­ing to North East Stars, "The high­light­ed text is in­cor­rect, as there is no res­o­lu­tion of the Board of Di­rec­tors to the ef­fect that Pro League Lim­it­ed would no longer pay prize mon­ey to the Cham­pi­ons of the League. I am ad­vised that you seek to re­ly on an in­nocu­ous state­ment in the Ju­ly 27, 2017 Board min­utes, which pro­vid­ed that 'the 2017 prize monies will be put on hold."

"Con­cern­ing this, and at best, “on hold” means the oblig­a­tion of Pro League Lim­it­ed to make a cash pay­ment to the League’s cham­pi­ons will be de­ferred to a date to be de­ter­mined. At worst, “on hold” means that any Board dis­cus­sions per­tain­ing to the is­sue of the pay­out of prize mon­ey to the even­tu­al Cham­pi­on of the 2017 League will be de­ferred."

"What is clear, how­ev­er, is that “on hold” does not mean by any con­tor­tion of the Eng­lish lan­guage that the en­ti­tle­ment of the Cham­pi­on to re­ceive prize mon­ey (or draw­down in lieu there­of) had been ter­mi­nat­ed. Specif­i­cal­ly, a de­ci­sion to the ef­fect that win­ners of the League are not en­ti­tled to prize mon­ey must be stat­ed in clear and un­am­bigu­ous terms and, in any event, can­not be made af­ter the sea­son had com­menced and Clubs had al­ready re­lied up­on the promise to pay to their detri­ment by in­vest­ing con­sid­er­able time and mon­ey in the de­vel­op­ment of their teams with their “eyes” on the lit­er­al “prize”.

Mike Awai, the 'NE Stars' Tech­ni­cal Di­rec­tor said the team, which was tak­en over from the pre­vi­ous own­er Dar­ryl Ma­habir, agreed to play in the League based on an agree­ment made on or around 2014, that prize monies would be raised to $1,000,000 in or­der to at­tract and en­cour­age greater par­tic­i­pa­tion in the League.

His lawyers not­ed, "In con­sid­er­a­tion of Pro League Lim­it­ed’s promise to pay the prize mon­ey, foot­ball clubs have agreed too, to par­tic­i­pate in the League, and Pro League Lim­it­ed has de­rived sev­er­al ben­e­fits there­from, in­clu­sive of the re­ceipt of fi­nan­cial spon­sor­ships."

Mean­while, Fakoory said all clubs agreed that the 2017 sea­son would have had no prize monies, and not­ed that Ma­habir, who rep­re­sent­ed the club at the time, had agreed al­so. He be­lieves Awai and com­pa­ny who took over the club last year, have mis­in­ter­pret­ed what was meant by 'on hold.'
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Offline Tiresais

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2019, 02:26:19 AM »
So what they starting the Pro League with? We'll have W Conn as the only semi-pros, The Forces as part of their day job, Rangers will field the local primary school, and Sando will walk into an unholy mess. Is this what they wanted in a "professional" league?

Gut the whole structure, the leagues won't manage their finances until they have some actual accountability from the teams that are part of it.

Offline spideybuff

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2019, 07:35:38 AM »
When youth pro league supposed to start? Or I guess that is wholly dependent on if there is a pro league?
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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2019, 07:39:41 PM »
Maybe the Pro League will learn a lesson from this experience that it is trodding with North East Stars. Seems to be an entirely avoidable episode.

Offline Tiresais

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2019, 03:08:30 AM »
Fakoory off! Rangers move from St Ann’s to La Horquetta; Stars explain case against Pro League

Lasana Liburd, Friday 18 January 2019

https://wired868.com/2019/01/18/fakoory-off-rangers-move-from-st-anns-to-la-horquetta-stars-explain-case-against-pro-league/

Another tumultuous pre-season lies ahead but interim chairman Richard Fakoory vows that the Pro League will go ahead in 2019, although he will view the competition from a considerably different vantage point.

For the first time, Fakoory will be not among the club owners for the local top flight competition this season, as he confirmed that he has sold the St Ann’s Rangers Football Club.

Fakoory told Wired868 that he was bought out by Richard Ferguson, who negotiated on behalf of local pest control company, Terminix Trinidad. And, after four decades in St Ann’s, Rangers are now heading to La Horquetta in east Trinidad.

“Richard Ferguson bought my club and is taking it to La Horquetta,” said Fakoory. “He wants me to stay on as chairman and I will stay on as long as I feel comfortable… But [Terminix] is the 100 percent owner.”

Fakoory, who expects to be replaced as Pro League chairman soon, said he became disenchanted with the negativity around the sport and the lack of support from businesses in St Ann’s. He feels he has done his part.

“I started in football with youth teams between 1978 and 1980,” he said. “We went from youth football to the savannah, to semi pro to professional; but has football reached where I wanted it to? No.
“Football in Trinidad is in a mess; in fact, all sporting disciplines are in a mess—financially and administratively. We can’t seem to get it together, so people can just enjoy sport.

Read More: https://wired868.com/2019/01/18/fakoory-off-rangers-move-from-st-anns-to-la-horquetta-stars-explain-case-against-pro-league/

Offline Tiresais

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2019, 03:21:26 AM »
It'd be amazing to get local football in La Horquetta, especially if they do renovate the local grounds. Cautiously optimistic

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2019, 07:59:25 AM »
...

Sadly. Just like. The country....or more to the point, mirroring the country....T&T football gone thru

There is no saving it. No chance of redemption.   It is what it is.
...

I endorse the pessimism.

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2019, 10:06:45 AM »
I think it is a good move. Central St. George(St. Joseph to Trincity) don’t have a pro team. So that is good for that region and La Horquetta. East Port of Spain lost, East Trinidad gain. Good luck. I hope the fans come out and support them.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2019, 04:09:50 PM by Deeks »

Offline Tallman

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Pro League changes Board structure
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2019, 10:20:11 AM »
Pro League changes Board structure
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)


A new Board struc­ture of the T&T Pro League, de­signed to im­prove the sport's gov­er­nance, will be in­tro­duced this year.

Rid­ing on the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Union of Eu­ro­pean Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tions (UE­FA) to re­view the Board's com­po­si­tion and in­clude in­de­pen­dent per­son­nel, the League has agreed to change its cur­rent Board for­mat to in­clude rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the top three clubs; reps from a fourth team to be de­cid­ed; a mem­ber of the par­ent T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion and two in­de­pen­dent rep­re­sen­ta­tives, of which one is ex­pect­ed to be from gov­ern­ment.

It will re­place the ex­ist­ing for­mat that sees a mem­ber from each team in the pro league mak­ing up the Board of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Richard Fakoory, Chair­man of the T&T Pro League said a de­ci­sion has al­ready been made to fol­low the UE­FA for­mat, and he not­ed there is un­like­ly to be any squab­ble from com­pet­ing clubs, as UE­FA-run com­pe­ti­tions are the most suc­cess­ful run in the world.

Ue­fa of­fi­cials are set to re­turn to T&T next Wednes­day fol­low­ing their ini­tial vis­it in Sep­tem­ber last year, and they will re­ceive, in doc­u­ment­ed form, ev­i­dence the new pro league for­mat will be put in place.

With the change, how­ev­er, the pro league could po­ten­tial­ly see a new board of rep­re­sen­ta­tives each year, as it is un­like­ly that the top three clubs would fin­ish in that or­der con­sis­tent­ly. Yes­ter­day Fakoory told Guardian Me­dia Sports "Change in the League is need­ed and I am forsee some­thing very pos­i­tive. I can ad­mit that in the cur­rent sys­tem, we have club reps at­tend­ing meet­ings with their own agen­da and this pre­vent­ed a pos­i­tive way for­ward some­times, so we will try the new sys­tem and see how it will work out."

Ue­fa's rec­om­men­da­tions al­so in­clud­ed a new foot­ball struc­ture that will im­pact com­pet­i­tive foot­ball in every league in the coun­try, such as the pro league, T&T Su­per League, the Re­gion­al As­so­ci­a­tion leagues and oth­er com­pe­ti­tions.

Ja­maal Shabazz, founder and man­ag­er of pro league cam­paign­er Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed said he is ex­cit­ed about this change as the lev­el of com­pe­ti­tion in all the leagues across T&T will be en­hanced.

Oth­er changes rec­om­mend­ed by the UE­FA in­clude- Unit­ing the foot­ball fam­i­ly in T&T: Al­low­ing TTFA to ac­tive­ly as­sist the run­ning of the pro league: Ten­der process for new sea­son match venue: De­ci­sion on whether the pro league will sit un­der the TTFA or stay as a sep­a­rate en­ti­ty: TTFA to cen­tralise and lead foot­ball in T&T: and Re­cruit­ment of full-time staff in the sport.

It al­so rec­om­mend­ed- Ver­i­fy­ing that all clubs are com­pli­ant with the FI­FA: The im­ple­men­ta­tion of a dig­i­tal foot­ball reg­is­tra­tion sys­tem by the TTFA: and De­sign­ing and cre­at­ing new pro league brand and mar­ket­ing cam­paign.

Fakoory said his Board is still to hold dis­cus­sions on some of the oth­er rec­om­men­da­tions, but he will not favour the pro league be­ing man­aged by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. "We can take ad­vise from them as we are ac­cus­tomed but I do not be­lieve we should al­low the TTFA to run our af­fairs in the pro league," the St Ann's Rangers boss ex­plained.

The pro league is set to kick off in ear­ly April, but it is un­sure of how many clubs will be par­tic­i­pat­ing as clubs are still strug­gling to make the $130, 000 reg­is­tra­tion fee for en­try. Fakoory said when the clubs are de­cid­ed they league will choose its board. He not­ed the board will al­so deal with the for­ma­tion of com­mit­tees rec­om­mend­ed by the UE­FA for ar­eas such as mar­ket­ing, fi­nance and fix­tures etc.
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Offline Deeks

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2019, 04:14:01 PM »
Al­low­ing TTFA to ac­tive­ly as­sist the run­ning of the pro league:


Honestly!!!!! That organization can't even run themselves and they are being allowed to run the entitties below them. Allowing DJW to bully the weaklings!!!!! To accumulate power.  :cursing: :banginghead: >:( :frustrated:

Offline Tiresais

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2019, 01:27:19 PM »
Al­low­ing TTFA to ac­tive­ly as­sist the run­ning of the pro league:


Honestly!!!!! That organization can't even run themselves and they are being allowed to run the entitties below them. Allowing DJW to bully the weaklings!!!!! To accumulate power.  :cursing: :banginghead: >:( :frustrated:

Just this - DJW's priority is to waste all their money on vanity projects while thier league and NT die on the vine. Why the hell would you let the fox into the hen house?

Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2019, 01:37:46 AM »
Fakoory off! Rangers move from St Ann’s to La Horquetta; Stars explain case against Pro League.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


Another tumultuous pre-season lies ahead but interim chairman Richard Fakoory vows that the Pro League will go ahead in 2019, although he will view the competition from a considerably different vantage point.

For the first time, Fakoory will be not among the club owners for the local top flight competition this season, as he confirmed that he has sold the St Ann’s Rangers Football Club.

Fakoory told Wired868 that he was bought out by Richard Ferguson, who negotiated on behalf of local pest control company, Terminix Trinidad. And, after four decades in St Ann’s, Rangers are now heading to La Horquetta in east Trinidad.

“Richard Ferguson bought my club and is taking it to La Horquetta,” said Fakoory. “He wants me to stay on as chairman and I will stay on as long as I feel comfortable… But [Terminix] is the 100 percent owner.”

Fakoory, who expects to be replaced as Pro League chairman soon, said he became disenchanted with the negativity around the sport and the lack of support from businesses in St Ann’s. He feels he has done his part.

“I started in football with youth teams between 1978 and 1980,” he said. “We went from youth football to the savannah, to semi pro to professional; but has football reached where I wanted it to? No.

“Football in Trinidad is in a mess; in fact, all sporting disciplines are in a mess—financially and administratively. We can’t seem to get it together, so people can just enjoy sport.

“Before sport used to be about passion but these days when you talk to players, the first thing you hear is ‘what you paying me? and everybody is always bickering.’ It is sickening.

“I think I am still going to give it a couple more years to see if I can help and then that’s it.”

Neither Fakoory nor Ferguson would say how much was paid for Rangers—who finished second from bottom in the 10 team standings last season—although the latter stressed that he was only a director of the owners, Terminix Trinidad.

Ferguson’s impression of the state of local football is just as gloomy as Fakoory’s; but the former man thinks he has a solution.

“Professional football in Trinidad now is poor and doesn’t make any money,” Ferguson told Wired868. “When you go to a Pro League game, there is no crowd or support; however if you go to a minor league game, the ground is full with close to 4,000 people watching players who can’t even make the bench of a Pro League team.

“The crowds won’t leave their communities to go to the Ato Boldon Stadium [in Couva] to watch a game; but we feel if we ask men to walk out their house and pay $20, they will come.”

Rangers approached Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation with a proposal to refurbish the sport venue at Phase Two in La Horquetta. Ferguson estimated that it would cost between TT$1.3 and $1.5 million to complete the upgrade, which would include fencing, toilets and cafeteria—although they plan to use the lights already at the ground.

He said the new Rangers owners chose La Horquetta at the prompting of their head coach, Dave Quamina.

“La Horquetta has a large community and 85 percent of our players and our head coach are from there,” said Ferguson. “So there is a fan base already and the ground itself is surrounded by the housing development, which means people can walk out of their house and come to the ground.

“[…] Why is it that secondary school games could draw crowds and the league with the best players has no crowd? The higher the grade of player, the bigger should be the crowd…

“So if we can get 3,000 or 4,000 people watching the game on a Friday evening, we will have succeeded.”

While Ferguson is upbeat, Fakoory remains frustrated by the Pro League’s financial issues. He confirmed that Flow will not renew their sponsorship of the Youth Pro League.

Flow’s departure follows similar exits by Digicel and Toyota in recent years and leaves First Citizens Bank, which bankrolls a knockout competition, as the only remaining sponsor.

Fakoory said the Pro League is in discussion with potential sponsors and hopes to raise prize money for 2019. Regardless, the top flight’s 10 member clubs were asked to pay off their registration fee of TT$130,000 for 2018 and stump up the figure upfront for the upcoming season.

Fakoory said the Pro League’s decision to start the 2018 season without receiving monies upfront from teams proved disastrous.

“I am only the acting chairman but I won’t recommend a month to month payment,” he said, “because you have to run down clubs and halfway through the season, when they decide they aren’t paying, they mess up the fixtures.”

Nearly half of the Pro League’s teams—Morvant Caledonia United, North East Stars, Point Fortin Civic and Police FC—still owe fees for 2018. Fakoory explained that those fees go to paying referees and match commissioners, office expenses and salaries for their three full-time employees: Julia Baptiste, Randy Bando and Mala Roopchand.

Morvant Caledonia and Police allegedly vowed to meet the 1 February deadline to pay off their 2018 debts and to subsequently pay their registration fee for the upcoming season. However, Civic asked for a sabbatical in 2019, as they cannot afford to take part.

Stars, who entered last season under the new managerial duo of Ryan Nunes and Michael Awai, are another story altogether. The 2017 champions, are the only club who, allegedly, have not contributed a cent to the running of the competition.

“They agreed to pay and never did last year,” said Fakoory. “And it seems that they are not even interested in contributing about which way we go. I am very disappointed in them. Awai is really troublesome.”

Last week, Awai sent the Pro League a pre-action protocol letter requesting clarification on a supposed TT$1 million cash prize that he feels Stars are due for their 2017 success—a triumph that pre-dated their takeover of the club.

Awai and Nunes are contending, based on the minutes of a Pro League board meeting in 2017, that prize money was promised to the champion club, despite numerous public statements to the contrary.

The excerpt in question from the minutes reads: “It was decided that the prize money for 2017 will be on hold…”

“By ‘hold’ we meant we were not doing any prize money and the other owners accepted it,” said Fakoory.

Awai suggested that Fakoory’s explanation was unconvinced and said he would rather hear what the High Court makes of it.

“We are contending that the minutes don’t reflect what they are saying,” Awai told Wired868. “What the minutes are saying is the prize money is on hold, not there will be no prize money for 2017, which would have been very clear if they said it.

“[…] We are just trying to determine what our rights are. Don’t tell us ‘everybody know we are struggling, so there is no prize money’. I am going with what is written.

“We are prepared to go to the High Court if it comes to that.”

Awai explained that, if Stars triumph in court, they would expect the Pro League to offset their registration fees with their winnings as they have done for Central FC. But they are prepared to accept the court’s decision either way.

“If we lose, then we have to pay but we are ready to go to court for the interpretation of that line,” he said. “We are not trying to not pay the registration. This is only one of several issues we have with the Pro League. The Pro League has no audited financial accounts for the last three years. They say they have their financial books but haven’t been able to pay for it to be audited.

“But they are a limited liability company, so they must have audited statements by law. Are they running something in a savannah? This is a big business and there is a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things.

“I mean how can you start a league and then in the middle of the league you are deciding whether there is prize money or not? I think [TTSL president Keith] Look Loy did it the right way, where before the season started he said there is no prize money. At least you know upfront.

“Does ‘on hold’ mean forever?”

Despite the furore and his own impending exit, Fakoory said the Pro League is still alive and growing. He pointed to the return of a UEFA delegation next week, which should help in the restructuring of the top flight’s board that, at present, comprises solely of club owners.

“UEFA asked us to change the structure of our board,” said Fakoory. “As owners, we all have our own agendas; and when we sit down in board meetings we tend to be looking at what is benefitting our club first and not what is best for the league, which is wrong.

“So we have agreed to change and the new board should have one TTFA official, two outside persons and four club owners.”

The Pro League could still have 10 clubs in 2019 too, as Fakoory said fourth placed Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) outfit, Cunupia FC, made a strong case for inclusion.

“Cunupia applied and we may allow them in the League,” he said. “A couple other clubs enquired but we haven’t heard back from them… So there is still positive news around the Pro League, which is important for local football.

“We are developing. We just want to get this trouble out of the way so we can start.”

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2019, 05:00:52 AM »
Clayton Morris: How could Fakoory sell St Ann’s Rangers when it wasn’t his to begin with?.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


“Contrary to what [Richard] Fakoory said, his company, Superstar, actually came on board at Rangers in the mid-1980s.

“[…] We in St Ann’s are very much concerned with the decision to move St Ann’s Rangers to La Horquetta. Who gave Mr Fakoory the rights to sell St Ann’s Rangers? What is the cost involved and how do the people of St Ann’s benefit from this move?”

In the following Letter to the Editor, former Strike Squad captain and Trinidad and Tobago National Futsal Team head coach Clayton “JB” Morris voices concern about Richard Fakoory’s sale of St Ann’s Rangers, which will now move base to La Horquetta:

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Clayton Morris and I am a former National and Rangers football player, who was asked to represent the former players of the community of St Ann’s on the sale of St Ann’s Rangers by Richard Fakoory, interim chairman of the Pro League, to Richard Ferguson and pest control company, Terminix Trinidad—due to the lack of support from businesses in St Ann’s.

Fakoory told Wired868 that he started in football with the Rangers youth teams between 1978-1980.

Rangers FC was actually founded way back in 1972. At the time, the main team in St Ann’s was West Ham. The younger players from the area, who couldn’t compete with the senior players for a spot on West Ham, would compete against each other annually as either ‘Hill Boys’ or ‘Valley Boys’ for cases of drinks.

Eventually, those young men decided to form their own team, which was coached by Ronald Alexis and organised by Oscar ‘Buggy’ Haynes, Jeffrey ‘Beppe’ Sample, Ian ‘Hardy’ Morris, Ronald ‘Eggs’ Alexis and Stanley ‘Popo’ Tindale, who were the real founders and owners of Rangers.

Rangers produced under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-19 teams during that period and I captained them all. We dominated those age groups in the North Zone Football Association.

Players at the club would purchase their own uniforms—which were red tee-shirts, dark blue pants and red socks—and print them themselves. This went on all the way to senior level. The only time we got assistance with uniforms was when we represented Defence Force in the North Zone’s Under-19 Division, as the Defence Force Youths.

Contrary to what Fakoory said, his company, Superstar, actually came on board at Rangers in the mid-1980s. Wendell “Tractor” Belgrave—the late father of Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Senior Team defender Ria Belgrave and Pro League stand-outs Josimar Belgrave and Elijah Belgrave—invited Richard Fakoory to a club meeting where he was said to be impressed with the way Rangers organised themselves despite the lack of funding.

Superstar came on board soon after and the club became known as ‘Superstar Rangers’.

This partnership boosted the players’ moral and motivated the community. The question of financial support from businesses within the St Ann’s community was not an issue then as Superstar was in control, as title sponsor.

A few years ago, we were told that the Superstar name was dropped from the team as Pro League teams were asked to be associated with their communities and one of the criteria for government funding was that teams had to be unsponsored. So the club became St Ann’s Rangers.

In recent times, Rangers have struggled to get proper training and playing facilities which forced sessions to be held at the Queen’s Park Savannah. Talented youths from the St Ann’s community were demotivated by this move—they felt the ‘vibes’ around the side had gone—and the result eventually became a Rangers team that was almost totally filled with ‘outsiders’.

We in St Ann’s are very much concerned with the decision to move St Ann’s Rangers to La Horquetta. Who gave Mr Fakoory the rights to sell St Ann’s Rangers? What is the cost involved and how do the people of St Ann’s benefit from this move?

I have over twenty years working experience as a corporate communication assistant at Petrotrin, which sponsored various community sports and cultural groups. When we sponsored the Phase II Pan Groove, it was the Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove; but when the contract ended, Petrotrin moved on and Phase II Pan Groove kept its name.

So how is it that a sponsor—Fakoory’s Superstar—became seen as the owner of the club it came on board with, as happened with Rangers? How can Fakoory sell something he never bought in the first place?

What will become of the St Ann’s youths whose passion is to become a Trinidad and Tobago national player like Sheldon Bateau, Belgrave or myself?

We, the former members/players of the community of St Ann’s who were provided the grand opportunity to excel by Rangers FC, hope and pray that some consideration be given towards the continued development of the youths of our community.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2019, 09:00:54 AM »
Drama!

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #20 on: January 25, 2019, 04:33:55 PM »
I new of Superstar, but did not know of sponsorship arrangements. Court case on the horizon.

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #21 on: January 25, 2019, 07:57:16 PM »
I new of Superstar, but did not know of sponsorship arrangements. Court case on the horizon.

On the face of it, nothing for Fakoory to lose sleep over.

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #22 on: February 02, 2019, 01:38:01 AM »
The real source of the US$2 million windfall for Pro League and TTSL; plus what clubs stand to make.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams announced a US$2 (TT$13.5) million cash injection for the local Pro League and Super League competitions on Monday morning, in what is likely to be the last major initiative of his four year term.

But there is a catch. Roughly half of the money was already promised to the Pro League—as the figure includes the TT$6.3 million that the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago vowed to hand over to the local top flight competition in 2019 and 2020.

And much of the remainder will come from the local football body’s annual allotment of US$1.5 million (US$10.1 million) from FIFA and US$175,000 (TT$1.2 million) from Concacaf.

“The Sport Company has already committed funding for three years [to the Pro League and] there are two years that are remaining,” said One Concacaf and Caribbean Projects senior manager Howard McIntosh. “And our proposal that is on the table is that the TTFA—through the FIFA Forward Programme—use a portion of those monies specifically dedicated to projects, to support professional football.

“In addition to that, the TTFA will look at the support it receives from Concacaf as well to assign funds [to the Pro League]. So the total amount of funds is approximately US$2 million over the period of the two years.

“The general idea is to use that period to put in place a solid foundation to ensure the stability of professional football in Trinidad and Tobago.”

McIntosh and John-Williams shared the head table at the Hyatt Regency hotel with the UEFA trio of international relations head Eva Pasquier, football operations specialist Robert Pongracz and international relations project specialist Chris Milnes.

But, as Pasquier stressed, UEFA was not here to give money—only advice and expertise.

It added up to a bold final roll of the dice by John-Williams, who is up for re-election in November. Thus far, the football president’s sole self-declared achievement is the construction of the TTFA’s Home of Football in Couva, which is plagued by rumours of conflict of interest and non-transparent use of funds—whispers that he refused to put to bed by opening the accounting books for the project to board scrutiny.

At least there was a greater show of transparency yesterday. Whether there was less self-interest is debatable.

John-Williams, after all, is the owner of Pro League outfit, W Connection, which stand to benefit—along with the other top flight and second tier clubs—from the diversion of FIFA and Concacaf money into the top two local competitions.

Whether the TTFA’s six cash-strapped zonal bodies, for instance, can be won over—as well as the football body’s many creditors, including past and present coaches and technical directors—is another story.

The Pro League and Super League are the two biggest stakeholders under the TTFA’s umbrella with 10 and eight delegates respectively. However, combined, they account for just 28 of the football body’s 48 voting members.

Remarkably, the entire plan to so use TTFA finances was hatched, discussed and unveiled to the media without any input from the body mandated to run the local game, which is the football body’s board of directors.

Wired868 understands that the UEFA and Concacaf delegates were already holding meetings in Trinidad before any attempt was made to sit with the TTFA board. Nearly half of the directors snubbed the belated overtures as a result.

“The lack of proper protocol was glaring,” said TTSL president Keith Look Loy. “The UEFA/Concacaf delegation entered TTFA and held several meetings before it attempted to meet members of the board—in two groups. That failed because ninety percent of the board members refused to attend or were out of the country.

“I voiced my objection to all of this when they met the Super League on Saturday. I made the point that the TTFA board has no institutional knowledge of the mission [of the visitors] or its objective.

“They accepted that criticism and assured all that a final report and proposal would be submitted to the TTFA board.”

McIntosh admitted the lapse.

“The TTFA is in charge of protocol and should have done better; but we are working [on that],” McIntosh told Wired868. “Keith raised this point with me. The board should always be informed… The communication must be improved.”

McIntosh and Pasquier stressed that they were genuinely enthusiastic about the project, though. And although neither Concacaf nor UEFA dipped into their own wallets to help bankroll the respective leagues, the proposal hammered out after four days of meetings was an appealing one.

Last year, the Sport Company distributed TT$4.8 million to the Pro League, which was shared between eight clubs that pocketed TT$600,000 each. At the end of the season, four teams had not even paid their TT$130,000 registration fee to offset the Pro League’s administrative cost and to pay for referees.

The TTFA’s foreign guests proposed a more progressive split of money for 2019, which sees all 10 Pro League clubs—inclusive of Defence Force and Police FC—collect US$50,000  (TT$338,000) for the year and US$10,000 (TT$67,000) each for the 12 TTSL teams for that same period. The combined guaranteed payout to clubs in both divisions is US$620,000 (TT$4.2 million).

Ultimately, the two leagues will determine how many clubs get to feed from the trough; and the Pro League generally denies subventions to Defence Force and Police on the grounds that they already enjoy state funding.

“We have not decided yet [the number of teams in the Pro League],” said Pongracz, “because the more teams you play, the more you have to share and the less a club gets. So you have to decide.”

There will also be performance-based incentives. The top five Pro League clubs will bank US$50,000 (TT$338,000), US$40,000 (TT$271,000), US$30,000 ($203,000), US$10,000 (TT$67,000) and US$5,000 (TT$34,000) respectively.

In the TTSL, the top six teams stand to pocket prize money of US$20,000 (TT$135,000), US$15,000 (TT$101,000), US$10,000 (TT$67,000), US$5,000 (TT$34,000), US$3,000 (TT$20,000) and US$2,000 (TT$13,000) respectively.

The combined prize money for both competitions is US$380,000 (US$2.6 million), which, added to the guaranteed payments of US$620,000 (TT$4.2 million), creates an even US$1 million (TT$6.8 million). The format will be repeated in 2020 when another US$1 million would be spent.

Clubs will no longer be required to pay a registration fee—which should simplify the introduction of a promotion and relegation between the two competitions—and the suggestion is both competitions should be run by a centralised body under the TTFA, which will add a marketing manager and sponsorship manager to its staff.

McIntosh suggested that improving the commercial arm of the local football competitions—and teams too, through the FIFA’s club licensing programme—should bear long term fruit.

“Even if you go back [to the government for support in the future], you don’t go back for as much,” said McIntosh.

Look Loy was impressed too, although he expressed concern about the competitions being run by the TTFA. In four years under John-Williams, the local body has not even activated a single standing committee: be it disciplinary, finance, marketing or otherwise.

The TTSL never received the full US$125,000 (US$845,000) promised in 2017 and Look Loy does not look forward to having to chase the TTFA for promised money this year.

“This intervention by UEFA/Concacaf could be a good boost to our club football if properly managed,” said Look Loy. “The mechanisms of league governance and distribution and control of the finance are central to that and must suit our reality.

“What it should not be is a ‘buy out’ of our club football in order to return it to the grossly incapable hands of the TTFA, which lacks transparency and was left behind twenty years ago by both the TTPL and the Super League (NSL and TTSL).

“Ultimately, I expect the TTFA board will have to approve all of this, and the UEFA/Concacaf delegates on this mission have assured us of that.”

McIntosh and Pasquier stressed that the final decisions lie with local football stakeholders.

“I repeat, emphasise, [this is a] proposal,” said McIntosh. “We did not come here to dictate or implement or tell anybody they are obligated to accept anything that we have presented.”

McIntosh, a Jamaican, was not shy to suggest that the initiative was an attempt to return the feel-good factor to Trinidad and Tobago’s football.

“Trinidad and Tobago [football] finds itself in a very fortunate position,” said the Concacaf official. “You have the best football infrastructure in the region. You have easily one of—if not the most supportive—government in the region, in relation to football development and contribution to the game. You have significant support from the parent bodies in football: Fifa, Concacaf, UEFA and the CFU.

“[…] You have an overly passionate president that sometimes wears his passion on his sleeve which causes its own issues, sometimes…”

I95.5Fm reporter Tony Lee, whose company continues to benefit from a secret contract from the football president, tried to wring a more effusive soundbite from McIntosh on John-Williams.

“You have spent the last week observing the operations of football in Trinidad and Tobago, how do you rate the standard of football in Trinidad and Tobago?” asked Lee. “And are you pleased with the governing body of Trinidad and Tobago?”

McIntosh took a long deliberate pause before responding.

“Well, there’s a whole lot of work to be done; a whole lot of work to be done,” he said. “On behalf of the TTFA: lots of passionate people, dedicated, committed, strong president; but needs improvement and structures, needs improvement in terms of management of certain areas.

“[…] Are there challenges? Absolutely. Are there major challenges? Yes. But as Eva mentioned earlier, where the TTFA finds itself in terms of its basic level of infrastructure in terms of technical centre, head office, home of football, you have an opportunity now with some tweaking and hard work to take immediate advantage.

“[…] We are very optimistic but it is going to take a lot of work and, to be fair to the president, I think he has been very open to the criticisms levelled and the recommendations made and has an understanding of what is required.”

John-Williams was not especially surefooted on Monday morning, either.

“I will introduce to my immediate right—he is no stranger to Trinidad and Tobago—Mr Howard McIntosh from Concacaf,” said John-Williams, as he opened the press conference.

It was then pointed out to the TTFA president that he was, in fact, seated at the extreme right of the head table and everyone else—including McIntosh—was to his left.

“I will only use the first names of the other two gentlemen (Robert and Chris),” John-Williams continued, “out of fear of not pronouncing their names properly…”

It is uncertain whether Pongracz (pronounced ‘Pon-grass’) and Milnes (not an uncommon name in Trinidad) were pleased with the fact that, after four days, the TTFA president had not bothered to learn how to pronounce their surnames.

Wired868 took the opportunity to ask John-Williams about the lack of transparency related to the Home of Football; and technical director Anton Corneal’s decision to down tools due to unpaid salaries—two issues he has studiously avoided in recent months.

Wired868: Can the football president tell us how those two issues will be dealt with?

John-Williams: Lasana, you will just have to wait and see. Okay? There is a plan in place and when there is a conversation and information on that, it will be made available.

Wired868: So the technical director has said that he has walked off the job and you’re saying we should just wait and see what happens?

John-Williams: That matter is being addressed and when that issue has been resolved, we will address it.

Wired868: And similarly what about that information [on the Home of Football] requested by board member Keith Look Loy?

John-Williams: I am sure that information requested has been presented to the general meeting; and the general meeting was very happy with the information received… Those issues have been presented to the general membership.

The TTFA president’s claim that the general membership were satisfied with the information provided on the Home of Football flew in the face of letters by several board members and stakeholders in support of Look Loy’s petition. But it was all he was prepared to say.

McIntosh tried to break the ice.

“I think we agree that football has been through a tremendous amount of turmoil in the last few years,” said the Concacaf official. “But the conversation has changed at the FIFA level, the conversation has changed at the Concacaf level; now we are talking about football.

“We want similar things to occur here in Trinidad and Tobago; a change in the conversation away from people and personality and more focus on the football.”

For now, the talk is likely to revolve around financial figures as stakeholders discuss the money proposed for the Pro League and TTSL and what it might mean for local football’s other projects and creditors.

Curiously, when asked to give more information on the funding available for the management of the Home of Football, Pasquier pointed to the FIFA grants of US$1 million for operating expenses and US$500,000 for capital projects.

Did that mean that John-Williams might have used money meant for the day to day operation of local football for the construction of the Home of Football? And, worse, without even disclosing to his board the contractors used and financial decisions made for the project?

And, if the Home of Football was built using funds that might have gone elsewhere, what did that mean for his claims that its construction did not impact on the finances of the cash-strapped local football body?

It is unlikely that all stakeholders would be prepared to avert their gaze from the controversial TTFA president until such questions are answered conclusively.

« Last Edit: February 02, 2019, 01:45:44 AM by Flex »
The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #23 on: February 03, 2019, 01:46:28 AM »
Pro League, Super League merger?
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


For the first time in lo­cal foot­ball, mon­ey will not be a prob­lem, but it's un­sure what the struc­ture of the coun­try's top two Leagues will be like.

A tri­par­tite com­mit­tee com­pris­ing Ju­lia Bap­tiste, the T&T Pro League rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Kei­th Look Loy (T&T Su­per League) and Richard Piper, who rep­re­sents the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion was cho­sen on Jan­u­ary 28, to chart the way for­ward for the two leagues based on a pro­pos­al from UE­FA and CON­CA­CAF teams last week.

The com­mit­tee met for the first time on Thurs­day last at the T&T Olympic House in Port-of-Spain and its first as­sign­ment was to de­cide on whether a sug­ges­tion by the foot­ball bod­ies (UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF) to have one man­age­ment team, un­der the gov­er­nance of the par­ent TTFA, to run the af­fairs of the coun­try's tier one and two com­pe­ti­tions was fea­si­ble.

The com­mit­tee is ex­pect­ed to sub­mit a team that com­pris­es a mar­ket­ing team, com­pe­ti­tions com­mit­tee and a sec­re­tary to man­age both tour­na­ments, which is be­lieved will help in en­sur­ing the pro­mo­tion and de­mo­tion of teams, as rec­om­mend­ed.

Yes­ter­day Bap­tiste said her team went through the pro­pos­als by the UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF, and a de­ci­sion will on­ly be reached af­ter con­sul­ta­tion with their re­spec­tive mem­bers. Guardian Me­dia Sports was in­formed by a re­li­able source that the one man­age­ment team for both leagues is set to be shut down, as both the TTSL and TT Pro League want to main­tain its iden­ti­ties and run its own com­pe­ti­tions.

An­oth­er main con­tention is de­ter­min­ing the com­po­si­tion of the do­mes­tic leagues. The UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF sug­ges­tion is to have 10 teams in a tier one tour­na­ment and 12 in tier two. But this would mean omit­ting more than half the TTSL teams, which is a cause of con­cern among clubs.

Bap­tiste said if there is a sug­ges­tion for more clubs to the com­pe­ti­tions, then it will mean less mon­ey for par­tic­i­pat­ing teams as they have to share all monies giv­en equal­ly.

The on­ly thing the Leagues (T&T Pro League and T&T Su­per League) mem­bers are sure about is that the mon­ey to run the tour­na­ments is guar­an­teed.

It is un­der­stood the gov­ern­ment has al­ready agreed to ho­n­our UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF's pro­pos­al of a US$1 mil­lion amount to put foot­ball on sta­ble foot­ing, by com­mit­ting $3.8 mil­lion to the cause. The rest is to be re­ceived by the FI­FA For­ward Pro­gramme which will come through the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion.

The com­mit­tee is set to meet for a sec­ond time on Feb­ru­ary 8.

Mean­while, the TTSL held its An­nu­al Gen­er­al Meet­ing (AGM) at the Queen's Park Oval yes­ter­day to dis­cuss the 2018 sea­son, and plans for 2019. Some ideas for the com­ing sea­son had to put on hold un­til all stake­hold­ers agree on a way for­ward.

Guardian Me­dia Sports was in­formed that clubs, dis­grun­tled by the man­age­ment of its pres­i­dent Look Loy, are await­ing a date of an Ex­tra­or­di­nary Gen­er­al Meet­ing to re­move him. A few days ago some clubs signed a pe­ti­tion and wrote to the TTSL sec­re­tari­at ask­ing for a meet­ing to re­move Look Loy as their rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the Board of the TTFA, as they be­lieve he has not been rep­re­sent­ing the in­ter­ests of the League.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #24 on: February 03, 2019, 01:47:06 AM »
Shaka: Pro League designed to fail.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


For­mer na­tion­al goal­keep­er, now turn ES­PN An­a­lyst, Sha­ka His­lop be­lieves the struc­ture of the T&T Pro League was de­signed for it to fail from the start.

His­lop com­ments came at the launch of the first ever Com­mon­wealth Caribbean Sports Law book at the Uni­ver­si­ty Inn and Con­fer­ence Cen­tre, UWI Cam­pus, St Au­gus­tine at which he was the keynote speak­er. The lanky cus­to­di­an whose ex­ploits on and off the field have made him a house­hold name world­wide said "I don't think the league should be scrapped but I do ad­mit that the League has been fail­ing, and fail­ing for some time. The way the League was struc­tured was al­ways a recipe for just fail­ure, in that clubs aren't at­tached close enough to their com­mu­ni­ties."

Ac­cord­ing to His­lop, "We found our­selves, in the one sense, in an en­vi­able po­si­tion of hav­ing any num­ber of sta­dia that we can use and uti­lized, but on the oth­er side, it proved more of a bur­den be­cause in an ef­fort to uti­lize the sta­dia, we took the teams away from their com­mu­ni­ties, and the play­ers on the field didn't have a fan-base to call their own fam­i­ly."

He told the me­dia that as an ex-play­er and broad­cast­er he is well aware of the im­por­tance of hav­ing the fan sup­port for rea­sons of com­mer­cial and me­dia back­ings.

On­ly re­cent­ly UE­FA of­fi­cials pro­posed an in­jec­tion of US$1 mil­lion to sort out the is­sues of the em­bat­tled T&T Pro league which has been fi­nan­cial life-sup­port from gov­ern­ment, through the Min­istry of Sports and Youth Af­fairs, and the Sports Com­pa­ny of T&T.

The pro­pos­al al­so in­clud­ed a rec­om­men­da­tion for clubs to grow and live up to the re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of be­com­ing self-sus­tain­able.

The 2019 sea­son is set to kick off at a date to be de­ter­mined in April, but or­gan­is­ers are still un­sure of the com­po­si­tion of teams for the League, as some four clubs were set to be sus­pend­ed for its in­abil­i­ty to pay the reg­is­tra­tion fees for 2018 and this year, which amount to $260, 000.

His­lop said while he em­braces the idea of clubs ac­cept­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ties for the growth of the League, he be­lieves this will be a chal­lenge un­til they are equipped to do so. "You have to al­low these clubs to serve in their com­mu­ni­ties. You have to em­pow­er these clubs to be able to make cer­tain de­ci­sions which are some­times un­pop­u­lar, in mov­ing their own prod­uct for­ward."

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Tallman

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Tobago team for Pro League
« Reply #25 on: February 07, 2019, 08:22:42 AM »
Tobago team for Pro League
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)


Af­ter al­most 10 years of not hav­ing a To­ba­go foot­ball team in the top flight T&T Pro League, this sit­u­a­tion is set to change soon.

Yes­ter­day An­tho­ny Moore, pres­i­dent of the To­ba­go Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TFA) ad­mit­ted that all stake­hold­ers on the is­lands are in­ter­est­ed in putting forth a To­ba­go rep­re­sen­ta­tive team in the league, but it will not be done un­til a prop­er busi­ness mod­el and path­way have been worked out.

A coach has al­ready been iden­ti­fied for the team, Moore said, but stake­hold­ers are con­tem­plat­ing an ap­pro­pri­ate name for the team.

The last To­ba­go team that played in the pro league was To­ba­go Unit­ed FC which was coached by for­mer na­tion­al foot­baller Pe­ter Granville. But the team was dis­solved in 2011, af­ter many un­suc­cess­ful years that saw it fin­ish bot­tom of the ta­ble.

How­ev­er, Moore said he wants the new team to have a phi­los­o­phy and di­rec­tion.

"It must not be like the old To­ba­go teams in the Pro League where shares were bought and it be­comes a mem­ber of the TT Pro League on­ly. Rather it must be opened to all of the To­ba­go peo­ple. Cor­po­rate To­ba­go must be able to pur­chase shares with­in the club, as well as all per­sons on the sis­ter-isle, which would mean that there will be a vest­ed in­ter­est by all to be in­volve and sup­port," Moore ex­plained.

To­ba­go foot­ball stake­hold­ers are now await­ing the de­vel­op­ments from a pro­pos­al from a UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF team re­cent­ly, that could po­ten­tial­ly change the man­age­ment of the sport lo­cal­ly and change the names of the coun­try's top do­mes­tic foot­ball leagues.

For this pur­pose a tri­par­tite com­mit­tee com­pris­ing Ju­lia Bap­tiste (TT Pro League), Kei­th Look Loy (TT Su­per League) and Richard Piper (T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion) was cho­sen to ini­ti­ate con­sul­ta­tion and move foot­ball for­ward.

Moore said he and his ex­ec­u­tive await the out­come of this to de­ter­mine their next step. In the mean­time, how­ev­er, is­sues such as rev­enue gen­er­a­tion and trav­el be­tween the is­lands are be­ing worked out.

"For sure we know that mon­ey will be gen­er­at­ed for our home match­es on the is­land, be­cause of the close-knit re­la­tion­ship among the com­mu­ni­ties. And be­cause it will be a rep­re­sen­ta­tive team, peo­ple with a vest­ed in­ter­est will come out, while oth­ers will be out to ral­ly be­hind the top play­ers that ex­ist in To­ba­go," Moore ex­plained fur­ther.

He added, "We are al­so un­sure of the for­mat and struc­ture of the com­pe­ti­tion, but if match­es are be­ing played at the week­end, it will al­so work in our favour. The team's match­es will all be played at the Dwight Yorke Sta­di­um in Ba­co­let on­ly. But ba­si­cal­ly, all must be on board on the sis­ter isle."

The Pro League is set to kick off in April, con­sid­er­ing the pace at which key de­ci­sions re­lat­ing to the UE­FA/CON­CA­CAF pro­pos­al, are made.
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Offline Tallman

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Cunupia FC accepted for 2019 Pro League
« Reply #26 on: February 07, 2019, 08:27:58 AM »
Cunupia FC accepted for 2019 Pro League
By Joel Bailey (T&T Newsday)


CUNUPIA FC, the 2018 TT Super League Cup champions, are expected to compete in the 2019 Pro League season.

Cunupia FC have made no secret of their intention to play in the top flight and have taken the required steps to do so.

Contacted recently, Pro League CEO Julia Baptiste said the league was expected to have an executive meeting whereby Cunupia’s application to join the top-flight local competition would be deliberated upon. That meeting was held and Newsday understands Cunupia FC have been given the green light to play in the next season.

Cunupia’s coach Michael De Four refused to confirm or deny whether his club was accepted by the Pro League executive, saying he preferred to wait for an announcement by the league’s board of directors.

“I have no comment to make about playing in the Pro League as yet,” said De Four yesterday.

Newsday understands though that Cunupia have been accepted and will play in the 2019 season once they meet the league's financial registration requirements – $130,000 plus an extra $100,000 on bond.

Last week, UEFA officials were in TT to discuss a revamping of the local league and prosed a system whereby no registration fee would be paid by clubs. It has not yet been revealed whether the Pro League will adopt the measures recommended for next season. Newsday tried to contact Baptiste yesterday but she did not answer a call to her cellphone.

De Four, while hesitant to discuss Cunupia FC's Pro League status, said he will be adding a few Brazilian players to his team for the new season. De Four said he will be tapping into links he established two years ago when he visited Brazilian club Cruzeiro FC.

“I’m looking at bringing in some Brazilians and a few local players in the squad to make the team play faster,” said De Four.

During the 2018 Super League season, Cunupia captured the League Cup after defeating Queen’s Park 2-1 in the final. And, in the league phase, they finished in fourth spot with 45 points, trailing champs FC Santa Rosa, Queen’s Park and Prison Service. De Four's Cunupia FC went unbeaten against FC Santa Rosa throughout the season.

De Four said the club was proud to represent the Central Zone and feels they've made quite a name for themselves since joining the Super League, with two titles in less than three years – the Championship title and Premiership League Cup.

In a Newsday article on December 22, De Four was quoted as saying, “We would like to get in the Pro League as soon as (this) year. We have shown consistency, discipline, good management ability as a club.

“We want a challenge to be able to compete at the highest level in this country and showcase our talent so the national coach will have an easier viewing of us. It’s that kind of aspiration that we have as a club. That can only be done by performing at the highest level.”
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Offline Tallman

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Stay out, TTFA...Pro League, Super League moving ahead with merger
« Reply #27 on: February 07, 2019, 01:32:23 PM »
Stay out, TTFA...Pro League, Super League moving ahead with merger
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)


DISCUSSIONS on merging the country’s top two football leagues—the professional TT Pro League and the semi-professional TT Super League—into one entity have begun, with the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) as the main financier. And both existing leagues would prefer the new entity to be run independently of the national governing body for the sport, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA).

One of the stakeholders, TT Super League president Keith Look Loy, confirmed that discussions among a tripartite committee comprising TT Pro League CEO Julia Baptiste, himself and TTFA representative Richard Piper had already begun, although a definite time-frame for implementation was still uncertain.

"Call it what you like, a National League, the name is not important," Look Loy stated, "This presents an important opportunity for us to move toward having one league in our football again, with multiple divisions."

The new entity is to be funded to the tune of US$2 million over a period of two years. Look Loy felt the role of the Sports Company must not be understated. There are still two years left on a commitment by SporTT to fund the Pro League and it has been proposed that this money be used to fund the merged league, along with a portion of funds the TTFA obtains through the FIFA Forward Programme.

"It is a serious investment by the Sport Company and I believe they should be given credit for this. In fact, UEFA is not putting in a cent," Look Loy declared. "It is US $1million a year for two years. Of the TT $6.5 million or $6.6 million, according to the exchange rate, this year the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, via the Sport Company, is contributing $4.2 million." He continued: "We getting some monies from FIFA via what is called the Forward Programme and we getting a small contribution from Concacaf. But the big investor in all of this is the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago."

The newly-proposed entity will consist of a national league, with multiple divisions, featuring relegation and promotion. It will be governed under the auspices of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association but run independently by the league.

Look Loy felt the new arrangement was best for local football. He revealed that one of the recommendations out of the initial meeting of stakeholders was to keep league football independent of the TTFA.

"So far the two leagues are convinced that football should not return to the TTFA," said Look Loy.

He continued: "Let the TTFA run what a national association should run...national teams, development teams, education programs, grassroots. Let them do that, and league football will be run by league football."

The move to join the top local competition comes following a UEFA workshop held here two weeks ago. Recommendation was made that a pyramid system of local football should be re-established.

Robert Pongracz, a UEFA Football operations specialist made a recommendation for a system of promotion and relegation that would inspire clubs to strive for excellence and be rewarded for it.

Pongracz spoke of a proposal where monies from the FIFA subvention would be divided among the two top tier Leagues (Pro League and Super League) with two main characteristics. The first would be for there to be equal sharing among the clubs and thereby enabling clubs to plan ahead, as they would know how much they would be earning. The second would be for clubs to receive monies based on their performances.
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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #28 on: February 07, 2019, 03:16:20 PM »
I invite everyone to predict the possible scenarios that could hit the headlines two years from now (and conceivably before).

I appreciate optimism more than the next guy, but ... this reads like someone in Moscow or Washington contemplating yet another attempt to subdue the Taliban and conquer Afghanistan and to achieve it within 100 days, in spite of the weight of history.

$1 million each year over two years divided by even more constituents than has been the norm? OK.

Cosmetics. And not even lipstick on a pig quality.

Offline soccerman

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Re: 2019 T&T Pro League Thread
« Reply #29 on: February 07, 2019, 03:52:35 PM »
If 20 clubs are in the league, that will equate to $50,000 US per club. Provided these payments are made, still don't see how it will help cover expenses these club will face during the season. Then again many clubs were operating without that type of installment so it will definitely help given other enterprises are in fact contributing.
Personally I think we need to follow the blueprint of the MLS if we're starting fresh. And most of the players may need other jobs while playing in the league.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2019, 04:00:28 PM by soccerman »

 

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