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Fed up they have not been paid for the past three months (March, April and May) of 2020, the coaches of the T&T Football Association have agreed to approach Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to assist them in getting the salaries owed to them.

They are complaining that Robert Hadad, chairman of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee and members deputy chairman Judy Daniel and Nigel Romano have been silent on the matter.

Guardian Media Sports reached out to chairman Hadad via WhatsApp on Monday but messages to his cellphone went unanswered.

The coaches, who withheld their names for fear of victimisation, said they are fed up of not being paid, particularly amid a pandemic, although the FIFA has made available a Pandemic Relief Fund, in addition to football grants to its Member Associations, however, no monies have been paid to the TTFA to date.

In an interview on Monday the coaches said: "By this week we intend to reach out to the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to discuss unemployment relief funds given out, but nothing concerning the coaches. At the end of the day, we are humans too. You gave maxis, you gave the hotels in Tobago, you have everything in place, but at the end of the day we are humans too."

They added: "We can't go to NIS (National Insurance) to discuss the grant because we have not paid NIS, so we are nobody then?"

Hadad appears to have his hands tied in a battle to gain full control of the embattled football association from former TTFA president William Wallace and the rest of his executive team of vice presidents Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillips and Susan Joseph-Warrick, all of whom are battling the sport's world governing body- FIFA, for the right manage the affairs of local football following their election back on November 24, 2019.

The last time the staff of the TTFA was paid, was in February when Ramesh Ramdhan, the football association's General Secretary borrowed money to pay salaries, due to the cash-strapped position of the TTFA.

Since then a garnishee order in February by the former technical director Kendall Walkes had put a freeze on the TTFA bank accounts, a freeze that was removed after Walkes liquidated the accounts months later.

On Monday last, the ousted TTFA members agreed to take their fight to the High Court in Port-of-Spain after removing their challenge against FIFA from the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. The decision to take their fight to the high court is a direct violation of the FIFA Statutes and the TTFA Constitution and puts the country in a position to be banned.

Three days later on May 28, the TTFA asked the FIFA for mediation which was eventually rejected.

According to the coaches: "We have not heard anything about payment of salary and that is disappointing. Nobody can get on to Hadad, he hasn't been saying anything and he comes to fix the football."

The coaches are also contending that staff members, both the technical and administrative staff, can be paid, despite challenges to secure the use of the TTFA bank accounts. " You can pay the staff. The CFU can pay the staff, the money can come through them (CFU), it can come through CONCACAF or it can come from the FIFA direct, so it comes like they are on games. CONCACAF paid money before, direct to people's accounts," the coaches explained.

The coaches' only point of contact has been Ramesh Ramdhan, the football association's General Secretary, but Guardian Media Sports learnt Ramdhan has had a gag order placed on him.

The technical staff comprises- Terry Fenwick (Men’s Senior Team), Derek King (Men’s Under-20 Team), Angus Eve (Men’s Under-17 Team), Keith Jeffrey (Men’s Under-15 Team), Richard Hood (Women’s Under-20 and Under-17 Teams) and Jason Spence (Women’s Under-15 Team) headed the various technical staffs.


SOURCE: T&T Guardian