Foreign intellect needed in local football—Romany.
By: Joel Villafana.[/size]
As the assessment of Trinidad and Tobago’s performance at the 2006 World Cup begins—Chairman of the T&T Pro League Larry Romany has stressed the need for foreign intellect in local football.
Mr. Romany speaking on Radio I95.5’s Monday Sports Rewind Programme, said that bringing Leo Beenhakker to coach the team was pivotal in the team’s success.
Mr. Romany stated, "Bringing Beenhakker was certainly the right thing to do, look what has come out of it? Look at the progress the team has made under his guidance? It was an intellectual approach that he brought that was clearly missing before, I don’t know if any local coach would have been able to bring that sort of intellect, simply because of their own lack of experience."
The Pro League chairman added, "We need to accept we don’t know everything there is to know about football, there is a lot of football we have never been exposed too before and we need to bring in the necessary intellect, mixed with our own intellect to effectively bring out the best in our players."
"It is important when we have foreign coaches, whether it may be Mr. Beenhakker or someone else, we need to ensure we set up our own local expertise to work alongside them—local people who have the capacity to learn from them."
"We must not just seek to criticize," Romany went on, "There is no need for us to prove that we have a better system, but rather we should be looking to see how we can benefit."
Addressing the issue as to whether Coach Leo Beenhakker should stay on after the World Cup, Mr. Romany says he sees no reason why anyone would want him to leave.
The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee President is of the view, that Beenhakker has done nothing wrong.
"Why should he leave? He has brought so much to the table, and there is no question that he has delivered, to go even further he has given hope to something that was hopeless—eighteen months ago nobody thought we would even reach close to qualifying for the world cup."
"Mr. Beenhakker also carried us on the world stage and we saw our team compete stride for stride with England and Sweden, the football pundits all over the world have recognized that Trinidad and Tobago is a force to be reckoned with and if given the opportunity and if the proper systems are put in place, we can make a dent in this process."
We need to build on Germany experience—Skeene.
By: Joel Villafana.[/size]
Chief Executive of the T&T Pro League Dexter Skeene is urging all with a vested interest in football to come together and build on what the ‘Soca Warriors’ have accomplished at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
Dexter Skeene, a former National striker, told ‘ttproleague.com’, “I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warmest congratulations to the national team–our ‘soca warriors’, and I am looking forward to the future and building upon the performance of the national team.”
“The performance by the team in Germany proves, once we exhibit a level of discipline, courage and passion we will be able to effectively compete on the international stage and from now, the challenge before us is to put the proper structure in place over the next four years we will not only be able to compete at the highest level, but can also be victorious,” added Skeene.
He insists if Trinidad and Tobago is to become a consistent qualifier in the World Cup in the future it calls for a unified effort.
“I again call on the stakeholders to work together to improve the standard of football, the spectator turnout at local games and to improve the youth and community programmes which will also enhance the level of performance of local officials and administrators as well."
"The T&T Pro League recognizes the role it has to play, if we are to take football in Trinidad and Tobago to the next level, but all parties must get on board, including the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, the Government and the Private Sector," ended Skeene.
