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Fri, Mar

Brent Sancho, Raymond Tim Kee, Kelvin Jack, Cyd Gray, and David Atiba Charles
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Former national goalkeeper Kelvin Jack says he is willing to challenge incumbent T&T Football Association (TTFA) president Raymond Tim Kee for the top post.

He declared his intent in a G-Sport interview yesterday. The elections of officers in the TTFA was constitutionally due this month, but citing the decision by the executive to appoint an Independent Review Commission to revise the organisation’s constitution, the Sepp Blatter-led Fifa executive advised that the vote be suspended for at least the next 10 months, until the new constitution was adopted.

Jack said Fifa’s decision to postpone this month’s elections was “illegal”, but he was convinced that delaying the vote would not change anything, since the executive could not show progress in 10 months having failed to do so during its designated two-year term.

“The TTFA is going to come up with excuses. Raymond Tim Kee and Sheldon Phillips and the rest are going to come up with all kinds of different excuses. They are going to say progress was made, but they need to show where the progress was made. Where are the sponsors?

Why are they (TTFA) not being innovative to try and raise money? Why is it they only waiting on somebody to come with a hand out? What about having a normal bar-be-cue?” asked Jack. “There are so many events they could come up with to try to raise a few thousand dollars. But they haven’t done that. They just exist! It’s not good enough! There must be change!” 

The former Soca Warrior, who was now based in the UK where he worked as drug rehabilitation counsellor and mentor for teens said citing the “rubbish” that passed for leadership in local football and he was willing to offer himself as a contender for the top job.

“It is something I have given a lot of consideration. It’s something I have been mulling over the last six months to a year. To be honest, I am fed up of the rubbish of a Federation we’ve had and I think players have always been short changed.

There are a lot of talented players in T&T and I think I could bring that organisation; I could bring that passion back. I can bring the transparency that has never been there and I think I could get sponsors to really share the vision that I would share in terms of having T&T qualify for future World Cups.”

Jack said the shame that befell the national women footballers at a planned training camp in Dallas, Texas, last month, where the athletes left local shores without sufficient funds and survived on the good will of the T&T-nationals aboard, the diaspora and even the Haitian Football Federation, did not surprise him, He said, “I was not shocked at all!

To be honest, the president and all those involved should have resigned immediately because that is no way to treat a national team. Those girls were working their socks off. They sacrificed a lot to get where they are. For that to happen there is no excuse. 

There is not excuse to have US$500 spending money for the team to go on an overseas trip. But the problem that the TTFA has is that no one could trust them. So if I was a president of a big company, there is absolutely no way I would give those in charge $10 million for developing football because they have not shown they are trustworthy.

“That is the first challenge any incoming president will have. I have a few very good plans in mind, if I chose to run for president, that I think I can implement and get T&T to dream again, to qualify for the next World Cup.”

Under his leadership, Jack said he would aim to strengthen the relationship between the TTFA, the Pro-League and the schools. But in order to treat with those stakeholders sufficiently, he said, qualifying coaches to ensure that consistent technical out-put, to towards guaranteeing world class athletes, was crucial.

“We are going to need to put a programme in place to identify young talent and help them grow to their full potential. It can’t happen overnight; maybe in 10 to 15 years. Once something like that is implemented we will start see real, real talent coming through. We will be a consistent force in Concacaf,”Jack said.

At present, the former Dundee and Gillingham goalkeeper was pursuing his coaching badges. He said as a child, his ambitions were to play in a World Cup final and manager this country’s men’s national football team at a World Cup final, too.

He achieved the former. Already pursuing his UEFA ‘B’ coaching badge which would be completed next March and he hoped to follow up with UEFA ‘A’ qualification pursuits three months later. Should he confirm his candidacy for the TTFA presidency Jack made it clear it would be one of great sacrifice as he would have to be away from his family.

Jack said, “The TTFA presidency is seriously interesting me. I think about it every day. When I do decide to run for office, it will be an exciting time. It’s time we start dreaming again and not only at World Cup. We need to perform better.

We need to be more organised at the top, to get these players to just go out and play and not worry about what are there match fees or just general conditions. We just need to make sure that they are comfortable and up to the level of the other countries they compete against. I love T&T.

Something as important as this is something that takes sacrifice for it to be a success. “Support is important, but getting to show the different zones where football could go, where they could go as a zone and how they could contribute to T&T football, is crucial.

We can’t forget how important the zones are and getting the presidents of the different zones out here in the UK to look at how things are done in important.

“I will have a supporting cast obviously; people who I trust; people who share my vision, my philosophy. I am not saying all those who are there now will have no future, because there are good people in the TTFA.”   

He expressed his view on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s decision to award $7.5 million to the former Soca Warriors and while he was one of the Prime Minister’s biggest critics, be declared that he had to give her credit.

“She’s a very brave women for doing that and I admire her for that, because for her to make that decision. We have been in a court case (with the TTFA) for over eight years. We’ve been hung out to dry. We spent millions in the court fees and she stepped forward and felt enough is enough.

This needs to be sorted out. “These players need our (Government’s) support (and) appreciation. And for that, I have huge, huge admiration for her. It takes someone quite stronger, because I am sure she would have been criticised for it,” Jack said.