Steups! Look, I cannot be bothered to read all the pages on this thread. Page one and five were enough.
In response to the original poster, I submit the following:
I first become hooked on football as a 5 year old, going to SSFL matches with my aunt, who attended Arima Senior Comprehensive in the days of Kerry Jameson. So it is no surprise that when my aunt's friend made it on to the national football team that I become even more interested in the national game.
Ever since 1989, when THAT MAN over sold tickets to a stadium he had to have known the capacity of, I have had him in my sights! Add that to the personal stories I know from footballers and technical staff from that campaign, and I see more reason to charge that man for fraud. Or for the very least, hire some men to give him a bullpistle beat down. lol
But I digress. On top of the annual scandals involving some form of financial skullduggery, on an international scale, we have the annual and permanent local ones. Just one of many examples: Many people see the stadia built to host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, and look at this as a major achievement. What most people don't know is that FIFA gave the TTFF/JWFF money to build these stadia. Yet that man got the government (and his current politcal party interestingly) to take out huge international loans to fund the build. Loans that the present governemnt is STILL paying off.
There is the annual siphoning off of the FIFA funds given to the TTFF to supposedly run the local game, the annual government funds (yes ANNUAL) and countless sponsor contributions. Yet this organisation claims to be broke every bloody year. And there is never accounting of any kind available to the public. Now, as a former bank girl, I have had access to financial information that the average citizen does not. I have worked for three major banks in T&T, and I have seen alot. What we see in the press is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now, on top of all this nonsense, we have the present situation. For years, alot of people have turned a blind eye to that man's blatant fraud and shady dealings, unethical business transactions and even treatment of players. But this last debacle, the treatment of the players who had finally reached that promised land and taken T&T to the WC, that is the last straw. Whatever leeway people were willing to give him for his many, and borderline illegal, transgressions was all used up. To quote a friend, he used up all his "turn a blind eye" frequent flyer miles. I know of too much, from players, agents, clubs, football bodies, and journalists to look at that man in any other light than as a damn crook, unethical businessman (and I use the word businessman lightly) and a bully.
You are on the internet with enough time to get into trivial arguments over nonsense, and the use of english grammar and content you clearly feel compelled to prove your worth through. Take that same time to trawl through the many and detailed "evidence" available right on the internet, compiled by many journalists from many media houses, especially in Europe and the US. If you think that we Trinis may be compelled by a follow-fashion culture, then what would you make of the europeans and americans who have dug up alot more dirt on that man than Lasana Liburd and the Express could ever print.
If you are coming on here to gain enlightenment as to the national game, and our players in particular, welcome. If you are coming on this site to get that little taste of home and keep up with the Trini banter, welcome. If you are a fan of football in general and want to converse with like minds as to the goings on in the many leagues we follow here, welcome.
But if you're coming here to somehow imply that we are too stupid to have an impartial view of something that is as plain as the trunk on an elephant, and get into arguments with little or no purpose, to waste the time of people who do not have the time to indulge egotistical narcissitic ignorant people with way too much time on their hands, then please, for the good of everyone involved, f*ck off!
