The TTFA will chart its own course—in private! DJW snubs questions on controversyWired868Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams refused to respond to questions on an alleged training ground incident with “Soca Warriors” head coach Stephen Hart, issues raised by National Futsal Team coach Clayton Morris or even to reveal when technical director Muhammad Isa started work at the local football body.
In a bizarre, impromptu questions and answers segment at the Hyatt Regency hotel, John-Williams carefully chose the queries he wished to respond to; and promised to deal with the others, via press releases, “at the appropriate time.”
“Let me just tell you this,” John-Williams told Wired868, “the TTFA has decided not to conduct its business in public.
“The TTFA has decided that we will chart the course how we want to go. And we will not be puppets.”
It was John-Williams’ first press conference since he was elected as TTFA president on 29 November 2015; and he was not keen on fielding questions.
Shanghai Group of Companies (SGC) CEO Michael Tang—whose company arranged the June 3 exhibition match between the Trinidad and Tobago and China National Senior Teams and paid the TTFA TT$600,000 fee to sport its logo at the event—suggested to Wired868, prior to the press conference, that the TTFA was responsible for the fact that there was no Q&A segment in the event.
Still, John-Williams was cornered by local sport reporters after the event and was generous enough with his time. But only for questions he approved of.
Wired868 asked him to explain a training ground incident at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Tuesday morning when he allegedly asked Hart and his technical staff to leave their own session and asked the footballers to overrule their coach’s decision to snub a practice match against Equatorial Guinea.
The Warriors are already booked to travel to Peru, Uruguay and China for three matches within the space of 12 days—the team will cross 11 time zones just to get to Qin Huang Dao in China.
Hart admitted that the TTFA requested a fourth game and did not deny the training ground incident. But—possibly sensitive to the ramifications with his boss, the TTFA president—he asked the media to restrict their question to technical matters.
“There were discussions about a fourth game, yes,” said Hart. “Listen, that sort of situation, I don’t want to talk about right now. Because I don’t want any situation to affect the squad.
“Let’s focus on the technical part of the football.”
John-Williams certainly had no intention of explaining his training ground behaviour to the public.
“I am only talking about positive things today, Lasana,” said the TTFA president. “So don’t ask me those questions.”
John-Williams suggested to the media that, somehow, his refusal to answer question was actually an honourable position.
“We as an administration won’t conduct our business in public,” he said. “We conduct our business quietly. My philosophy is: he who moves quietly moves the furthest.
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http://wired868.com/2016/05/19/the-ttfa-will-chart-its-own-course-in-private-djw-snubs-questions-on-controversy/