'THE NAKHID TRUTH'
Bahrain-gate gathers momentum.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
Trinidad and Tobago football fans anticipated a dramatic, hard-fought contest laced with patriotic fervour as the national team moved within three weeks of a possible place in the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament in Germany.
They got more than they bargained for, although the first ball is yet to be kicked.
The local media remains gripped by the buzz surrounding Trinidad and Tobago's upcoming two-legged Play-Off fixture against Asian outfit, Bahrain, but it is an axed scout and equally-controversial high-profile administrator who hog the spotlight.
Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special advisor and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner called his former employee, David Nakhid, a traitor on Monday and accused him of trying to gather footage for the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) in the build-up to their crucial qualifiers on November 12 and 16.
Nakhid, who worked as a chief scout for the T&TFF for much of their 2006 qualifying campaign, countered via live broadcast on I955FM that his former boss was stupid and dishonest.
Nakhid and Warner were unavailable for further comment yesterday, while national coach Leo Beenhakker, a Dutchman who previously held posts at top European teams like Real Madrid and Ajax, tried to keep his distance.
Nakhid alleged that Beenhakker's Dutch assistant, Wim Rijsbergen, racially insulted him and their dispute led to the Trinidadian being ostracised from the national set-up.
He also charged that Rijsbergen exchanged videotapes of Trinidad and Tobago players with a Bahrain official.
"No, he does not know what he is talking about," Beenhakker told the Trinidad Express. "It is unbelievable."
The veteran coach then remembered an urgent meeting he had to attend and asked to be excused.
Nakhid suggested he had proof and that the matter was not closed.
"I have some e-mails which I can provide in the near future, God willing, that show (Rijsbergen) has been exchanging videotapes of Trinidad with a Bahrain official," said Nakhid, in response to Warner's accusation. "To say that sending a tape or receiving a tape is treachery is just stupid."
Nakhid, who claimed to be Bahrain's national under-20 coach-in-waiting, has repeatedly denied having any role with the Asian country's senior team or, more specifically, in helping plot the downfall of the land of his birth.
The ex-national captain countered that Warner was trying to escape from fulfilling financial obligations to his former employee and suggested the FIFA bigwig might be trying to destabilise his own team.
"They owe me certain monies and they seized the opportunity to do this and not pay which is Jack Warner's typical tricks," Nakhid told I95. "I guess he has the Trinidad and Tobago public distracted now, which is what he wanted to do.
"As a matter of fact, it reminds me of 1989. I only hope they won't sell the country out a second time around by distracting the country from the issue at hand, which is going to Germany."
Nakhid insisted he did more for Trinidad and Tobago than Warner and that he still had his country at heart despite being on the verge of accepting a post from the BFA.
"My record is there for anyone to see," he said. "Let Jack Warner show his record...let the T&TFF show their record. The public will always have me down as a son of the soil and somebody who has always given his heart to Trinidad and Tobago.
"I think the Trinidad and Tobago public already knows how many times (Warner) has sold them out for more than 30 pieces of silver. Look at the 2001 World Cup (Under-17 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago) and how many credits and grants were given to him and members of his family for this tournament."
Nakhid's opening statement was arguably his most pertinent. "It has reached the stage of ridiculous now," he said.
Nakhid says he’s no sell-out.
By: Zaid Mohammed (Newsday).
Under fire former Trinidad and Tobago football captain David Nakhid yesterday rubbished claims by the Football Federation that he had sold out his country to Bahrain for 30 pieces of silver.
And he has launched a stinging attack on FIFA vice-president Jack Warner who made the charge as Special Advisor of the Football Federation.
Nakhid also promised to reveal everything about his reported links to the Bahrain Football Association and the reasons he was axed as team scout for the Warriors when he returns to Trinidad and Tobago early next week.
Nakhid spoke yesterday to Newsday sports columnist Andre Baptiste on the Dale and Tony Show on radio station i95.5FM.
The 41-year-old is currently in Bahrain where he has been reportedly been offered a top coaching position for the Bahrain Under-20 team which he said he will consider after November 16.
He is currently at the centre of a swirling controversy surrounding a reported offer extended to him to assist the Bahrain Football Association, weeks away for a crucial two-leg play-off with Trinidad and Tobago.
Winner of the play-offs on November 12 in Port-of-Spain and four days later in Manama will secure a berth in the 32-team World Cup Finals in Germany next year.
Yesterday Nahkid said it was ridiculous to suggest that he is a traitor as suggested by a Football Federation media release on Monday which stated that an acquaintance of his has been attempting to secure video material of recent Trinidad and Tobago team matches. "The exchange of tapes is quite normal. In fact the coaching staff has sent video material to Bahrain. I have e-mails to prove this. So it is absolutely stupid to suggest otherwise," said Nakhid.
He said Warner and the Football Federation were trying to distract the public from the issue at hand which he said was getting the national football team to the World Cup in Germany.
Nakhid said the Football Federation has realised that they made a mistake by terminating his services by claiming that he made racist comments about the Syrian community in a televison interview two weeks ago.
Nakhid said that he was fired because of a run-in he had with assistant national coach Whim Rijsbergen in Panama City prior to a crucial CONCACAF World Cup qualifier earlier this month.
He said he has given 24 years of his life to Trinidad and Tobago football and has not benefited in any way from his exploits on the field. It is understood that he has an outstanding claim of US$100,000 for his work as national team scout which he intends to collect from the Football Federation.
While in Bahrain Nakhid said he was invited to watch the senior team practice but bluntly refused acknowledging that he could be photographed and the image used for publicity purposes which will further place him in a bad light with the Trinidad and Tobago public.
He suggested that the focus should be on getting the national team ready for the play-offs and not about treachery. The former midfielder also slammed what he described as a "culture of mediocrity" being promoted by the Football Federation.
He maintained that he is a free agent and that he must explore his options since he had a wife and family to maintain but insisted that he is not a traitor to the Trinidad and Tobago cause.
David Nah-Kid coming home next week.
By: Nigel Simon.
New Bahrain Under-20 coach, T&T’s David Nakhid has labelled his former employer, FIFA’s vice-president Austin Jack Warner as being football illiterate.
Contacted in Bahrain yesterday, Nakhid, who was fired as a T&T scout last week because of an alleged racist comment towards the Syrian community, said:
“I have been here for the past couple of days having discussions with the Bahrain Football Association about my role with their youth team.
The former T&T captain made it clear that his stay in the Asian country was for that purpose only. He defended himself against statements made by the T&TFF that he was assisting the Bahrain FA for the World Cup play-off with T&T on November 12 and 16.
In a release on Monday,the T&TFF said that it was investigating reports of the involvement of Nakhid with Bahrain.
The statement read:
“The T&TFF, following its own investigation, can reveal that by all knowledge, a female acquaintance of Nakhid approached local media houses for video footage of recent matches played by the Warriors.
“Those enquires were in fact made early last week ahead of the revelation that there was some link between Nakhid and the Bahrain FA.
“Nakhid’s link contacted T&TFF media for tapes or DVD’s of the national team recent matches and whatever was possible from the earlier stages of the World Cup 2006 campaign, stating that it was to be used for producing a documentary on the team’s progress which Nakhid never discussed with anyone of the team management, nor with the T&TFF, nor with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Germany 2006.
“Sunity Maharaj, executive producer of local television show Total Football and Ruskin Mark of NCC Channel 4 both revealed that they were approached by the same female acquaintance of Nakhid.
“Her request was for the tapes to be used as personal archive, after she enquired why they were being sought.
“In both instances she was referred to the T&TFF, because they are well aware that they hold the rights to these type of footage,” Maharaj stated.
The T&TFF release also alleged that Nakhid has been appointed as scout advisor of Bahrain's national team.
The president of the General Organisation for Youth and Sports (Goys), Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, was also quoted in the Bahrain Tribune as saying that he had made a “lucrative offer to Nakhid which he could not refuse.”
“When contacted in Zurich on Monday evening, FIFA vice president Jack Warner confirmed that the talk in Zurich is all about Nakhid.”
“For 30 pieces of silver, T&T has been sold out! This makes what Jamaica has done look guiltless,” Warner said.
David replies:
I’m not involved with Bahrain. No secrets in the game soft spoken David Nakhid said from Bahrain yesterday:
“From my initial conversation with the Bahrain FA, I made it clear to them that I only wanted to be involved with the youth team.
“I wanted nothing to do with their World Cup campaign, and I have not been involved.
“They agreed with my request and since then I have been looking at their youth programmes. I have not even seen their senior team players in training.”
With regards to being made a lucrative offer that he could not turn down, Nakhid says:
“My offer is not an enviable one, its quite a normal offer in terms of coaching.
“The accusations levelled at me by the T&TFF has made the public hysterical and this is all part of psychological warfare being used by Bahrain.
“And they seem to be winning, because Jack Warner and the T&TFF seem to be aiding them.”
Asked if he would assist the T&T team should a request be made for information on the Bahrainis, Nakhid said:
“Don’t forget I was fired by the T&TFF not too long ago, so I have no obligation to assist them. Also, it will not be ethical, considering my new role in Bahrain.”
Asked to further clarify his role in the reported requests for tapes of the T&T matches for Bahrain,Nakhid responded:
“It’s a game, they don’t need my help with getting any tapes of T&T matches, because both technical staffs have already exchanged information.
“Rob Baan, the Dutch scout hired by the T&TFF to spy on Bahrain and the Bahraini scout have already exchanged information about each other’s team.
“At this level of football, there are no secrets in the game, but Mr Warner, being the football illiterate that he is, will not understand that.”
Nakhid said it was “madness,”referring to stories that an alleged female friend had been asking around for tapes on the national team to give to the Bahranis.
“It’s madness, imagine they choose to attack some female acquaintance of me.
“They do not know that tapes have been sent to Bahrain by the T&TFF staff already.
“So for Baan (the Dutch coach in the employ of T&T) sending tapes of T&T to Bahrain, would you call him a traitor too?
“I will be coming home within the next week and will be holding a press conference to clear up all that has transpired.”
