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Tue, Apr

Senior Team Goalkeeper Coach Kelvin Jack (right) watches a training session in the Bahamas together with Assistant Coach Derek King (left)
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Discussions to treat with the possible overlapping by goalkeeper coach Kelvin Jack with different national teams, will begin when a joint press conference of the Unified Football Coaches of T&T (UFCTT) and the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee is held sometime soon.

Both groups have been working together to solve the issue of non-payment of salaries to national coaches and other staff members, as well as stipends for local players training with the national team.

Jefferson George, interim president of the UFCTT said on Wednesday that they do not want to put anything out to the public until its members are sure that payment has been made. Payment was expected yesterday.

However, on the issue of Jack, a former national goalkeeper who was given the responsibility of goalkeeping coach for all the national teams, George said this discussion will begin soon. The issue of Jack being used for different teams which could eventually lead to a clash of responsibilities was raised by the UFCTT's Public Relation's Officer (PRO) Angus Eve, who responded to a Guardian Media Sports report that highlighted the concerns of coaches in the Women's Football League (WoLF) over the appointment of Richard Hood and Dernelle Mascall as assistant coaches of the Senior Women's team.

WoLF interim president Kenrick Hoyte called for transparency in the selection process and noted that all coaches, including those in the WoLF should have been given a fair chance to apply for the assistant positions.

Eve said on Sunday that the UFCTT agrees with the WoLF, adding that Jack who is an excellent coach, can be found overlapping with different teams.

George said: "Kelvin is a member of the UFCTT and we didn't have time to speak to him on that, so what we will have to do is just like the issue with the coaches who were appointed without a fair process. We would want to have some discussions again about the process before getting into any details.

Things like the calendar, what type of schedule the women's team has and what schedule the men's team has, and these are things that need to be considered and I don't know if that process was followed, but again, that is more in line with the best practice and would also give both teams, the best opportunity to be prepared."

According to George: "These are some of the things that we will address where the process is concerned. We had in the past under several administrations, where you had one goalkeeper coach, one trainer, or sometimes one equipment manager working with several teams, and we think that if we are to really concentrate on preparing the teams in the best way possible, that is sometimes asking too much of one coach."

Jack is currently with the T&T senior team in Nassau Bahamas ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against that country on Saturday.


SOURCE: T&T Guardian