March 28, 2024, 04:45:51 PM

Poll

Who will make a good TTFA president.

Kelvin Jack
5 (11.9%)
Nigel Myers
3 (7.1%)
Flex Mohammed
12 (28.6%)
Terry Fenwick
6 (14.3%)
Somebody Else
15 (35.7%)
Brent Sancho
0 (0%)
David-John Williams
0 (0%)
Foreign Investor
1 (2.4%)

Total Members Voted: 42

Author Topic: TTFA News Thread.  (Read 117174 times)

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Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #270 on: November 25, 2018, 07:50:30 AM »
So what happened to Keith agenda?!!!!!

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #271 on: November 25, 2018, 08:35:28 AM »
So what happened to Keith agenda?!!!!!

December 9, 2018. Can kicked down the road.

Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #272 on: November 26, 2018, 07:08:24 AM »
So what happened to Keith agenda?!!!!!

December 9, 2018. Can kicked down the road.

Then at the Dec. 9th meeting, DJW, will do something and say the next meeting is Dec 25th ??

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #273 on: November 26, 2018, 03:42:04 PM »
So what happened to Keith agenda?!!!!!

December 9, 2018. Can kicked down the road.

Then at the Dec. 9th meeting, DJW, will do something and say the next meeting is Dec 25th ??

Filibustered by DJW.

;D

Busy wrapping Xmas gifts, he must be smiling as he milks/watches the clock. Available to him is the entire Club WC window from 12/12 to 22/12 (read any FIFA business excuse  :devil:),  plus December 24, December 26, December 31, January 1, and all recovery days from the former and all points leading up to Carnival. And since those who need to vote are faced by similar constraints, do we expect any traction before the Gold Cup?  :)

Allyuh work on that, ah going and recruit meh own candidate. J. Salazar or buss! :P Ah feel she could take DJW.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 03:45:48 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline Tallman

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For the love of T&T football
« Reply #274 on: December 06, 2018, 09:30:31 AM »
For the love of T&T football
By Colin Murray (T&T Guardian)


Some­thing very laugh­able caught my eye in last Sun­day's Guardian.

It in­volved a for­mer na­tion­al coach and gen­er­al coun­cil mem­ber shar­ing his views in an in­ter­view on the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) an­nu­al gen­er­al meet­ing (AGM) held on No­vem­ber 24. The items on the agen­da were dis­cussed but not com­plet­ed so the meet­ing was ad­journed to De­cem­ber 9 (this Sun­day).

Still to be dis­cussed is the ap­proval of fi­nan­cial state­ments for 2017, ap­proval of the 2019 bud­get and a mo­tion of no con­fi­dence in the pres­i­dent.

Be­fore the good­ly gen­tle­man, who prob­a­bly has his heart in the right place for foot­ball, gave his views on the meet­ing, he de­clared, "in my ef­forts to be trans­par­ent I must de­clare be­fore an­swer­ing any ques­tion in this in­ter­view that I am a friend of David John-Williams and I cam­paigned for his slate in the 2015 TTFA elec­tion".

At that point, I was faced with the prospect of spend­ing some pre­cious time on a Sun­day morn­ing hav­ing just come from church, with three Pre­mier League der­by match­es to come, to read this seem­ing­ly im­par­tial in­ter­view. For what it was worth, I de­cid­ed to go through it. I loved the diplo­ma­cy in some an­swers to some in­ter­est­ing ques­tions such as whether the pres­i­dent is open and trans­par­ent with the gen­er­al mem­ber­ship.

My ques­tion is if the pres­i­dent is open and trans­par­ent, why is he wor­ried about how his de­trac­tors use in­for­ma­tion re­ceived with­in the TTFA? I must be so naive, or sim­ply put, I must be an aw­ful politi­cian. I be­lieve in hon­esty, in­tegri­ty and no mat­ter how de­trac­tors twist in­for­ma­tion on so­cial me­dia, the truth and noth­ing but the truth will al­ways pre­vail.

We can all agree that the 'Home of Foot­ball' is an ex­cel­lent ini­tia­tive but why can't the in­for­ma­tion be made pub­lic? It is in­ter­est­ing in the in­ter­view that it was not­ed that the pres­i­dent could have han­dled the is­sues sur­round­ing the project dif­fer­ent­ly. Of course, one of the ways he could have ap­proached this was to sim­ply come out and tell the pub­lic what was the deal with the project if there is one. I be­lieve a year has passed and all the pub­lic has been told is that it has been fund­ed by FI­FA to the tune of TT$18 Mil­lion.

This whole sor­did di­vi­sion with­in the TTFA ranks based on the in­ter­view has de­gen­er­at­ed in­to a 'they say - we say' af­fair, even to the ex­tent where it is al­leged that the op­po­nents of the pres­i­dent are more skil­ful than him in pre­sent­ing half of the sto­ry to so­cial me­dia. I am sure the pres­i­dent has full ac­cess to all forms of me­dia in this coun­try and I am even more cer­tain that all the me­dia wants is cor­rect and truth­ful in­for­ma­tion com­ing from the pres­i­dent's of­fice.

I was un­sure where we were head­ing with this an­swer but I now un­der­stand that it was to make a point that the op­po­nents have not re­port­ed a scan­dal (here we go again) which has been un­earthed re­gard­ing a for­mer pres­i­dent and an al­leged email and sworn af­fi­davit. There­fore, if they haven't as you say, “buss that mark”, why doesn't who­ev­er with­in your rank and file “buss that mark”? Don't you think you owe it to the foot­ball-lov­ing pub­lic of T&T to get the truth about what­ev­er scan­dal is tak­ing place? Or are all of you “sis­sy like”, to re­state your words, and afraid to speak out?

To the big ques­tion: is the TTFA bet­ter off to­day than it was be­fore John-Williams be­came pres­i­dent? The cam­paign man­ag­er was seem­ing­ly chary in his as­sess­ment. He al­lud­ed to the TTFA be­ing in a bet­ter fi­nan­cial stand­ing from a debt man­age­ment and as­set base stand­point, as well as be­ing more fi­nan­cial­ly sus­tain­able.

I am over­joyed to know the TTFA is ad­dress­ing its debts so very quick­ly. Per­haps we should see where all the for­mer, and in some cas­es, cur­rent na­tion­al coach­es have been paid. Some coach­es have come and gone in re­cent years and we hear of them bit­ter­ly com­plain­ing that they are owed mon­ey. I know pri­vate com­pa­nies are owed and some are in a le­gal bat­tle with the TTFA. But the TTFA is ap­par­ent­ly bet­ter off to­day in ad­dress­ing its debts. Re­al­ly?

At least some good came out of the in­ter­view when it was re­vealed that re­sults on the field “are not great at the mo­ment”. To be fac­tu­al, re­sults are poor. Let us go back to qual­i­fi­ca­tion for the World Cup and the fir­ing of the coach; the de­ba­cle with the women's na­tion­al team; the Un­der-20 and U-17 men's teams are strug­gling. Dis­as­ter af­ter dis­as­ter with our na­tion­al teams and we are start­ing to be the laugh­ing stock of the Caribbean while Ja­maica con­tin­ues to move up in all di­vi­sions.

Com­plaints of no fund­ing for prepa­ra­tion of the na­tion­al teams? What about spon­sors? Can the good­ly gen­tle­man tell me how many spon­sors are knock­ing down the door of the TTFA? Say what you wish about Cor­po­rate T&T but they know a good prod­uct when they see one and for years T&T foot­ball had been a good prod­uct. One just has to look back at the last 'Hex' qual­i­fy­ing stage when quite a few spon­sors came on board but as re­sults did not go our way, they moved away. Let us, how­ev­er, be re­al­is­tic; which cor­po­ra­tion would want to get in­volved in an or­gan­i­sa­tion shroud­ed in se­cre­cy and di­vid­ed with board mem­bers not trust­ing their leader?

I con­tin­ue to hope and pray that one day we will have a TTFA that en­gages far more with the stake­hold­ers in foot­ball. En­gage the me­dia (isn't there a me­dia re­la­tions of­fi­cer?) and care more for the peo­ple of T&T who so dear­ly love and sup­port foot­ball.
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #275 on: December 14, 2018, 05:39:56 AM »
TTFA gets extension for judicial review response.
By Jada Loutoo (Newsday).


THE TT Football Association (TTFA) has received additional time to respond to the judicial review claim of TT Super League president Keith Look Loy as he seeks to the association’s president, David John-Williams, to provide documents on the controversial “home of football” project.

At a brief hearing at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, this morning, Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh gave the TTFA until January 7 to file its response. Look Loy’s lawyers will have an opportunity to put in a reply on January 21. Submissions are to be filed by February 4 and both sides are to return to court on February 22.

Look Loy in his claim said he had made requests – acting as a member of the TTFA board and president of the TT Super League – for information on the Balmain, Couva project since December 26 last year.

He is represented by New City Chambers’ attorneys Matthew Gayle, Dr Emir Crowne and Sheriza Khan.

Look Loy is challenging John-Williams’ failure to permit himself and the other board members access to the TTFA ledger for November 2015 to the present; the contribution of FIFA, TTFA and Government to the project of constructing the technical centre in Balmain, Couva, and the overall budget for the project; the names of all companies and parties who submitted bids for construction of the project; the TTFA body or representative who selected the contractor and sub-contractors; the identity of the project manager; the name of the contractor and sub-contractors engaged; the quantum, duration and terms of all the project’s contracts; and the current financial and construction status of the project.

The grounds for the application include the fact that the TTFA is a public company that receives funding from the Government, Look Loy being president of the TT Super League, a body affiliated with the TTFA.

Look Loy has openly accused John-Williams of “taking full control” of the project, which is being funded by FIFA and built on land leased by the Government.

On July 10, Look Loy, through his attorneys, issued a pre-action protocol letter threatening court action against John-Williams if the specified documents were not presented by July 24.

The letter stated: “...Mr Look Loy sought disclosure of the contract awarded to the project manager and asked to examine the ledger of financial transactions for the period 1 January and 13 June 2018.

“Mr Look Loy has renewed his request for the above sought information on a number of occasions, both in writing and in person, including as recently as Sunday 1 July 2018. These calls for transparency have also been echoed by other key stake holders, including fellow board members: Clynt Taylor; Collin Partap; Jason Labon; Anthony Harford; and Steve Gopeesingh. This suggests a wider and more systematic lack of transparency, since as of the date of writing this letter, Mr Look Loy has not been given access to any of the sought documents or information.

“Furthermore, no rationale (sic) explanation has yet been forthcoming as to why Mr. Look Loy has not been given this information / documents. Nor has it been suggested that he is not entitled to review these documents on request.”

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #276 on: December 15, 2018, 01:48:09 AM »
“Look Loy is passionate but he is not a strategist”; Wired868 reviews the TTFA AGM, as DJW prevails again.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


“If the same attitude persists and the president [David John-Williams] continues with the same ‘onemanship’,” said one football member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Any board member can call for an extraordinary general meeting to move a vote of no confidence in the president.”

Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams faced a motion for dismissal at Sunday’s reconvened AGM at the Hasely Crawford Stadium’s VIP room in Port of Spain.

In the end, John-Williams faced a considerably tamer motion, which commended him for his efforts on the controversial Home of Football project in Couva but further declared that: ‘the President be strongly censured for not communicating matters to the board as demanded by the constitution; and that the President be made to realise that any reoccurrence of this non-communication of matters to the board shall result in a motion of no confidence’.

The motion was moved by Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association (TTFRA) vice-president Osmond Downer and was a near replicate of his ‘warning’ to John-Williams at the last AGM.

On 13 June 2018, as members again tried to hold John-Williams accountable for several constitutional violations and a lack of transparency, Downer moved a motion to: ‘compliment the President for the yeomen effort he has given to advance our beloved game, but also censure the President for the way in which he approached the [Home of Football] project singlehandedly’.

TTFA board member and Trinidad and Tobago Super League president Keith Look Loy, whose FC Santa Rosa club tabled the motion to dismiss John-Williams, suggested the weaker motion that was passed effectively undid all his efforts.

“I will now have to consider if it is worth my time and effort to continue with what seems to be a futile action to bring good governance, clear vision and proper management to the TTFA,” Look Loy told Wired868. “It would seem that the majority of people are content to go ahead, despite their protestations about bad management.”

John-Williams’ term as president ends in November 2019, and, having faced his last AGM until then, he is favoured to survive now.

It is hard to remember a more unpopular sitting president. The W Connection owner is largely ignored by the private sector, openly criticised by national players and coaches, repeatedly rebuked by the TTFA board and abandoned by two of his three vice-presidents.

Yet, his ability to win an election remains undimmed.

Thirty-two of 47 eligible members showed up for Sunday’s AGM. Roughly 14 of those members—or 44 percent of the electorate present—were felt to be committed to moving the sitting president.

According to the constitution, Santa Rosa’s motion to dismiss John-Williams required 24 from those 34 members to declare they had enough. And that looked extremely unlikely from the start.

Northern Football Association (NFA) president Anthony Harford suggested that the average age of attendees at the AGM was 55; and many seemed disinterested in anything about football save for the cause they came to champion.

“Leaving the meeting my thoughts were that the people who are representing football in this country—the stakeholders—are completely out of touch,” said Harford. “People go to meetings and their partisan views are so entrenched that they don’t want to hear from other people. Nothing you say—even presenting them with facts—seems to sway them one way or the other.

“When someone says they are unhappy with something that is happening and want change, they call you a dissident and a rebel. But they sit there with their partisan views and do not contribute for the whole meeting.

“I think that is unfair to the youths of our country who are relying on us… Nobody in that room is going to kick another ball in their lives. Old people are sitting in meetings and not listening to the young people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

There was a way around the political mountain that Santa Rosa faced. The NFA proposed an amendment to the constitution, which suggested that the threshold to remove a president be shifted from 75 per cent to 51 per cent.

“The threshold for electing someone is a simple majority, so why should the threshold for removing someone be different to that?” said Harford, after tabling the motion. “But the argument is that it could become too flippant and as soon as somebody get you vex, you move them…”

With John-Williams’ supporters believed to be out in their numbers, it was clear that his critics were going to need some constitutional foreplay to succeed.

So when North East Stars official Michael Awai moved and passed a motion to suspend debate on all constitutional amendments—including a change in the threshold to move the president—until an unspecified date in January, John-Williams was almost home and dry.

“I didn’t think that the constitutional matter had anything to do with the removal of John-Williams,” said Harford. “My zone submitted the proposal for an amendment and I hope it is discussed and we come up with a good formula. I wouldn’t say we did to affect the motion for John-Williams; and I don’t think any of us seriously thought [the motion to dismiss the president] would work.

“We were hoping that people could speak [on the no confidence motion] and discuss their view on our leadership.”

There was more pointing at the constitution over the future of general secretary Justin Latapy-George, who the president advised to start job hunting since October. John-Williams’ apparent loss of faith in his general secretary coincided with Latapy-George’s revelation—barely two weeks earlier—that the president asked him to deceive the board regarding the status of his former vice-president Joanne Salazar.

“We asked about Latapy-George’s job situation and John-Williams said the [contract] discussions are ongoing,” said Harford. “It was suggested to David that he should align the secretary’s tenure with the president’s tenure; so if he has one year to go, he should only have a secretary for one year, so there are none of the issues like with [former general secretary] Sheldon Phillips—whose contract outlasted the tenure of the president who hired him, Raymond Tim Kee.

“We also informed David that it was his right to propose but not to hire, so we informed him of the correct procedure.”

John-Williams has appeared blissfully unaware of the TTFA constitution at times. But he seemed to have the jump of his interrogators on the weekend, regarding his general secretary.

The football president pointed to article 36(f) of the constitution which stated that the board of directors: “shall appoint or dismiss the General Secretary on the proposal of the President.”

Downer, one of the framers of the constitution, got flustered, according to observers.

“That is an error; it should be shall consider the appointment of dismissal of the General Secretary on the proposal of the President,” Downer told the meeting. “Otherwise why go to the board with it at all? It must be up to the board to make the final consideration for appointment or dismissal; otherwise the president can select anybody he wants—even members of his family—and it must be done because of the word ‘shall’.”

Downer passed a motion that John-Williams ‘takes into consideration the views expressed at the meeting concerning the efficiency of his secretary [Latapy-George]’ and the football president agreed.

But history would suggest that John-Williams is happy enough to enforce his will on far flimsier ground on that. But sources noted that former TTSL general secretary Camara David has been a regular presence around the football president; and was an observer at the AGM.

Look Loy also raised the future of National Senior Team head coach Dennis Lawrence and John-Williams’ attempt to have the coach’s contract renewed via email, to fend off supposed interest from England National League club, Wrexham AFC.

“The point raised by Keith is that he wants see Lawrence’s contract, his terms of employment and be able to assess his performance before he can decide,” said Harford. “Dennis is a local boy and nobody wants to get rid of Dennis; but the right thing is the right thing. We told [NFA board representative] Rayshawn Mars to do all those things and we trust him to make the right decision; we told him he shouldn’t respond based on an email.”

John-Williams promised to address Lawrence’s potential renewal at a board meeting but, noticeably, still has not called one. It is already six days since the Welsh press suggested that Wrexham were interested in the Soca Warriors head coach.

If the TTFA president really was desperate to ensure he didn’t lose Lawrence’s services, he has a funny way of showing it.

Harford also raised the position of former TTFA official Delyse Joseph, who was due severance payment of TT$196,000 when she was retired last Christmas; but, to date, has received just TT$30,000.

Joseph, according to Harford, recently received an eviction notice from her landlord. However, John-Williams’ position was simply that the TTFA did not have the money to pay her.

“[Joseph’s situation] was brought to the TTFA’s attention, they promised to help and nothing happened,” said Harford. “This is a case of bad leadership and what irks me—and why I supported Keith’s motion—is it appears to me that honour, decency, fidelity and morality has left the TTFA. You can’t be doing this to people day in day out while putting all your energy into an inordinate object.

“We are not going to be penalised if we don’t finish the Home of Football in time. So why not take some money from that and keep people happy?”

It was time to deal with Santa Rosa’s motion to dismiss John-Williams; and to debate the football president’s leadership.

Look Loy and SSFL president William Wallace spoke about the lack of transparent leadership, the failure of the football teams and an array of missteps by the football president.

Board member Anthony Moore and Awai praised John-Williams’ work on the Home of Football and in supposedly addressing debt inherited from his predecessor, Tim Kee, while Eastern Football Association (EFA) representative Dharia Nelson-Seales wondered ‘who they would put’ if they moved him.

Anthony Clarke—a former W Connection goalkeeper and contractor who comments under the sobriquet ‘Cla Tones’ on Facebook—supposedly spoke for over 30 minutes with a long defence that was allegedly halted on a few occasions to deal with inaccuracies in his presentation.

“Clarke was talking about a representative board selected by the president,” said the anonymous source. “But our constitution is drawn up so members are assured of a say and representation on the board. He was making this long speech but it was clear that he didn’t even know the constitution.”

Downer followed up Clarke’s soliloquy with a subtle put-down.

“I was waiting for the President to answer the accusations,” said Downer. “But from the way the last speaker spoke, it was as if he were a lawyer representing the President.”

John-Williams, for his part, did a remix of his oft-repeated speech about the importance of a Home of Football and his work in cutting the debt left behind by Tim Kee—notwithstanding the number of successful lawsuits brought against the football body during his term.

Arguably, it did not matter much on the day. John-Williams was virtually assured of an electoral win.

Regardless, Look Loy wanted a referendum on the president’s leadership.

“Win, lose or draw, FC Santa Rosa wanted a vote on the motion to dismiss the president,” said Look Loy. “It was irrelevant if it succeeded or not, we wanted the members of the AGM to go on the record to give their view on the President.”

But Look Loy did not even get that much. Instead, as the meeting prepared to vote on the motion to dismiss John-Williams, Downer proposed a counter-motion to ‘censure’ the football president instead, which was seconded by Awai.

Downer’s full motion read:

“Whereas at the General Meeting of 13 June 2018, a motion was passed that the President be complimented on his valiant efforts to improve the state of football in the country, with a special reference to the creation of the Home of Football, and that in the same motion, the President was censured for not properly communicating with the Board, as he should do in all matters, according to the Constitution; and seeing that at present, the President should be again complimented on his continuing efforts as fore-mentioned.

“But, because of his continuing inadequate non-communication on all matters concerning these football projects, that the President be strongly reminded of the previous decision of censure and be made aware that any indication of such non-communication on the part of the President in the future will be treated as serious enough to engender a fulsome motion of no-confidence in the President.”

So, instead of deciding the future of the TTFA president, the AGM voted on whether it preferred Santa Rosa’s motion or Downer’s. And, by 24 votes to 7, Downer’s motion prevailed.

“Look Loy is passionate but he is not a strategist,” said the anonymous football member. “He would have lost that vote easily; and then ‘Mr Man’ would go out and say ‘the annual general meeting absolved me and gave me a vote of confidence’. So what Downer did was have the meeting’s dissatisfaction placed on record and gave members another chance to move on John-Williams if his behaviour did not improve.

“The President brought out all his sycophants and the politics just were not good for Look Loy.”

The Santa Rosa owner was inconsolable.

“This weak counter motion was tantamount to a vote against the motion to dismiss,” said Look Loy, “and a vote in favour of John-Williams!”

Harford conceded that John-Williams would have been the happiest person at the end of Sunday’s meeting.

“If people want to interpret that as a vote, then David is in firm control of the TTFA,” said the NFA president. “This is democracy; if the people want it then so be it. I am okay with that. At the end of the day, I am glad to offer some public service and do it to the best of my ability.”

Look Loy told Wired868 that he was not sure why he still bothered.

“I now have to consider whether I want to continue in football politics which I despise—which is why I declared I did not want to be the football president,” he said. “And I will go so far as to say I will even consider whether I chose to continue as Super League president or whether I should let the critics run the Super League.

“If after all that has transpired, people still want to leave it there with two raps on the knuckle, I have to consider whether it is worth my struggle. So no hard feelings; but I have other things I can do with my time.”

Harford complained that the array of agenda items for the AGM meant too much time was spent on mundane issues and it became a test of endurance to stay alert for the important stuff.

He noted that, yet again, John-Williams completed an AGM without addressing burning questions being asked by members for over a year.

“The major issues are still unresolved: we still don’t know who the contractors for the Home of Football are; and we still don’t know about the i95.5FM contract,” said Harford. “We have 41 radio stations in the country and 40 are being denied the chance to tender for what i95.5 has. We must be the only football jurisdiction in the entire world where we pay for journalists to travel, stay in hotels, eat with our teams and cover a game and then we don’t see a cent of their revenue.

“We have asked a multitude of times to see that contract and still can’t see it. I have no issue with Tony Lee and Andre Baptiste. I am just saying the other 40 media houses should be given a chance to tender too and if i95.5 are the best, then fine.

“But when I raise the issue, people look at you like ‘why you don’t hush and sit down’. I am not against John-Williams as a person; he might be a fine man. But I am totally against his leadership style.”

On the weekend, though, roughly 75 percent of the members present voted to give John-Williams another chance to ‘improve his communication’ on the job. There is unlikely to be another chance for a referendum on the football president before the 2019 TTFA election.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #277 on: December 15, 2018, 07:23:34 PM »
How pathetic! Contro.. I hope you have your people ready to deal with this guy and his cohorts.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #278 on: December 15, 2018, 09:55:10 PM »
So ... did Downer enable John-Williams or was he acknowledging political reality?

Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #279 on: December 15, 2018, 10:11:55 PM »
So ... did Downer enable John-Williams or was he acknowledging political reality?

Somewhere down the middle.

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #280 on: December 19, 2018, 05:55:05 AM »
TTFA on verge of Equatorial Guinea, Serbia friendlies.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


There will be no foot­ball for T&T's War­riors if it is not free.

T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) pres­i­dent David John-Williams shared this yes­ter­day as he again con­firmed the sad fi­nan­cial state of af­fairs of his as­so­ci­a­tion.

"It (TTFA) is in the red," John-Williams said.

In spite of this, how­ev­er, his ne­go­ti­at­ing skills has land­ed the War­riors on the verge of friend­lies against Ser­bia and Equa­to­r­i­al Guinea next year. And Guardian Me­dia Sports learned that John-Williams is al­so locked in talks with a top Span­ish La Liga club, as well as Scot­land for match­es.

Af­ter two in­ter­na­tion­al friend­ly match­es against Thai­land and Iran, the em­bat­tled foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion has not paid a sin­gle cent but has suc­cess­ful­ly arranged for its team to face Wales in Wrex­ham, Eng­land on March 20.

John-Williams is al­so set to sign on the dot­ted line to con­firm the match with Equa­to­r­i­al Guinea al­so in March in Spain, which will co­in­cide with a meet­ing be­tween Scot­land and Kaza­khstan.

The War­riors, it is un­der­stood will al­so play against the "Scots" in Mara­bel­la, Spain, once fi­nal arrange­ments have been sort­ed out.

The lo­cal foot­ball boss told Guardian Me­dia Sports his as­so­ci­a­tion is al­so still in talks with Ser­bia for a match on Feb­ru­ary next year, right here in Trinidad.

"We are at­tempt­ing to get Ser­bia to pay its own air­fare but we will take care of ac­com­mo­da­tion, meals and ap­pear­ance fee. To achieve this we have to get a spon­sor and are at­tempt­ing to do so right now," said John-Williams, who ruled out the use of the Home of Foot­ball in Bal­main, Cou­va, to house the Ser­bians as it will not be com­plet­ed in time.

He said be­cause the as­so­ci­a­tion has ab­solute­ly no mon­ey in its cof­fers, it has had to ask the fed­er­a­tions of teams the War­riors are play­ing in, to pay its ex­pens­es.

"Apart from the all-ex­pens­es-paid trips, the team (War­riors) al­so re­ceive ap­pear­ance fees, which we use to pay the play­ers their match fees. Be­cause of the lit­tle to no fund­ing in the cof­fers of the TTFA, we have had to re­sort to this," John-Williams said.

He not­ed that al­though on­ly two match­es have been con­firmed to date, he will give a guar­an­tee that the team will play a min­i­mum of at least four good in­ter­na­tion­al friend­ly match­es be­fore the CON­CA­CAF Gold Cup.

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Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #281 on: December 19, 2018, 07:25:03 AM »
I am not trying to be picky, but it is Marbella, not Marabella as is in TT. They both mean the same thing though. "beautiful sea".

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #282 on: December 20, 2018, 05:42:18 AM »
Look Loy: Money woes reflect instability within TTFA.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).


KEITH LOOK LOY, president of the TT Super League, has bemoaned the instability within the TT Football Association (TTFA), after members of the national men’s team called on TTFA president David John-Williams to pay outstanding match fees, for the period October 2017 till now.

Last week, the T&T futsal team were awarded victory at the High Court over outstanding salaries. There were also complaints by members of both the T&T women’s and men’s Under-20 squad about the lack of respect shown to them, ahead of World Cup qualifiers, by the local governing body.

“This is not the first national team to find themselves in a crisis and in a freefall,” said Look Loy yesterday. “This is further evidence of complete mismanagement.

“The players are saying that the TTFA cannot be trusted,” Look Loy added. “That’s a terrible indictment, not only on the TTFA but the (leadership). We’re looking bad.”

He continued, “When we look at what happened with the futsal team, (the TTFA) are sending us into frivolous legal matters that (they) cannot win. (John-Williams) is not receiving the approval of the Board to do this and we have to pay extraordinary sums of money.”

The Super League president noted, “When you get to the point where players (are) speaking publicly, you know the point of desperation that they have reached.”

If the players indeed go on strike, it will severely impact the immediate plans of T&T coach Dennis Lawrence, whose contract is set to expire in January.

“This will be a terrible blow to the image of (the) TTFA and T&T football,” Look Loy said. “No player goes on strike easy because they want to play.”

He added, “The situation with the coach is up in the air. Nobody knows what is happening with that. John-Williams is refusing to bring a discussion on Lawrence’s future to the board. The board has to make a technical (and) financial analysis to decide if to keep Lawrence in place or bring in somebody new.”

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is set to take place from June 15 to July 7.

According to Look Loy, “With the Gold Cup on the horizon, to have a coach who doesn’t know what his future is, players (who) don’t know what their future is, and the president is busy arranging matches that the players are saying they’re not going to play. It is farcical.

“It is a reflection of the instability in the management of the TTFA, and the management of all our teams,” he added.

After their participation at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, 13 members of the then “Soca Warriors” sued the TTFA over unfulfilled promises and bonuses. The players were awarded an interim payment of US$1.14 million by the High Court in March 2011.

“When you make an agreement with players, then you have to fulfil your side of the bargain,” Look Loy said. “The players who sued in 2006 and the players who’re threatening to strike now are justified.”

With regards to the Home of Football project at Balmain, Couva, Look Loy refused to be drawn into speculation that the venture has been given prominence by the TTFA, at the expense of various T&T teams.

“That is speculation until it could be proven, and that is why I have been demanding, (since 2017) Boxing Day, documents. And I can’t see them yet. But we have programmes in the TTFA that are sponsored, and people are not being paid,” Look Loy said. “That is all part of the lack of transparency in the Association.”

Look Loy also mentioned the reconvened Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the VIP room, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on December 9, when he failed to gather support from TTFA board members for a motion to dismiss John-Williams.

“We have those who’re benefitting from what’s happening, those who’re afraid to vote because they’re afraid to be victimised and we have those who just don’t know any better, and that allows (the leadership) to continue.”

Repeated attempts to reach John-Williams for a comment proved futile up to press time last evening.

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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #283 on: December 27, 2018, 07:06:36 PM »
Downer: John-Williams cannot force a general secretary on the TTFA Board
Letter to the Editor, Wired868


Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association (TTFRA) vice-president and former St Augustine Secondary principal Osmond Downer, one of the framers of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) constitution, explains why football president David John-Williams cannot unilaterally decide on the fate of the TTFA general secretary:

At the reconvened AGM of the TTFA held on 9 December 2018, the following motion was accepted by unanimous vote of the delegates present: “That the AGM expresses satisfaction with the work of the General Secretary during his tenure and will exhort the President to take this into account in considering the renewal of the contract of the General Secretary.”

When this motion was adopted, the President gave the impression to the meeting that [he] has all the say in the appointment or dismissal of the General Secretary. Colleagues, according to the Constitution of the TTFA. This is certainly not not correct.

Article 39.3 of the Constitution states: “Only the President may propose the appointment or dismissal of the General Secretary.”

Now, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “propose” as follows: “To put forward for consideration” or “to nominate as a candidate.”

“Propose” does not mean “select” or “elect.”

To whom does the President put forward  a nominee for consideration  in a matter of appointment or dismissal of a General Secretary? The answer is, according to the Constitution, “The Board of Directors of the TTFA.”

Article 36(f) on the Powers of the Board of Directors states “shall appoint or dismiss the General Secretary on the proposal of the President”.

Now, therefore, who considers the appointment or dismissal of the General Secretary? The answer is “the Board of Directors.”

The President only puts forward to the board his proposals for the consideration of the Board and it is the Board that makes the decision whether to accept or not accept the President’s proposal: “The Board shall appoint or dismiss…”

The President’s only—but important—function here is to propose and nothing else. The Board, in this matter, can reject the President’s proposal; [but] the Board cannot, on its own, make an appointment or termination. The Board must then refer the matter back to the President for him to make another proposal for the consideration of the Board of Directors and for its decision.

I trust that this matter has now been clarified for all concerned.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2018, 07:09:24 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline Tallman

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TTFA must solve outstanding debts problems
« Reply #284 on: December 28, 2018, 02:44:54 AM »
TTFA must solve outstanding debts problems
By Alvin Corneal (T&T Guardian)


For yet an­oth­er time play­ers have been forced to take the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion to Court for monies owed to them af­ter promis­es were made. Why this con­tin­ues to hap­pen, why?

On this oc­ca­sion, it's the Fut­sal staff and play­ers who turned to the le­gal route to force the TTFA to ho­n­our a promise made back in 2015.

And I am sure there are many oth­ers which in­clude busi­ness­es just wait­ing in the wings to have their mat­ter set­tled for monies al­so owed to them.

It will be un­fair to say that this se­ri­ous fi­nan­cial dilem­ma has just start­ed, which means that pre­vi­ous ad­min­is­tra­tions are equal­ly to be blamed for not ho­n­our­ing some long-out­stand­ing debts to its play­ers, staff and busi­ness­es.

The dif­fer­ence be­tween these mat­ters and the in­debt­ed­ness could on­ly be drawn by the fact that some of the pre­vi­ous ad­min­is­tra­tions were mak­ing ef­forts to ho­n­our their com­mit­ments in small ways, leav­ing the re­cip­i­ents in hope that they will be even­tu­al­ly paid.

This cur­rent ad­min­is­tra­tion has not done a sat­is­fac­to­ry job in their re­pay­ment pat­tern.

Maybe they did not re­alise that when they took of­fice, all the pre­vi­ous debts were now in their hands. That is the case. The list of coach­es, play­ers, of­fice em­ploy­ees and clubs have suf­fered im­mense­ly, as they were ac­tu­al­ly de­prived of leav­ing hun­gry play­ers and staff mem­bers cash-less and un­able to feed their fam­i­lies.

For­eign coach­es were em­ployed here for pe­ri­ods of time, on­ly to re­alise that they will have to re­port di­rect­ly to FI­FA in or­der to re­ceive their pay­ments. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, the lo­cal em­ploy­ees have not been so for­tu­nate to ask for the fi­nan­cial re­turns from the work they have done.

The sit­u­a­tion had reached se­ri­ous pro­por­tions and the en­tire pub­lic are be­moan­ing the lack of funds for the debtors to build a huge ho­tel on a piece of land next to the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um in Cou­va.

Dur­ing the time of the com­mence­ment of the build­ing, na­tion­al foot­ballers have been ho­n­our­ing their com­mit­ment to the coun­try on the field of play, and have not been paid, which has now brought them to refuse well in ad­vance of play­ing friend­lies against Wales and oth­ers un­til they are ful­ly paid.

My ques­tion is: does it not wor­ry the Sports Com­pa­ny, the Min­istry of Sport, and al­so the TTOC that the im­age of our ma­jor team sport has gained so many neg­a­tives be­cause of this aw­ful predica­ment?

How­ev­er, I solid­ly blame the Clubs in this coun­try for this cur­rent sit­u­a­tion, sim­ply be­cause this state of af­fairs has not re­cent­ly been de­vel­oped and they (the clubs) have not made a sin­gle ef­fort to seek ur­gent en­quiries from qual­i­fied per­son­nel as to why the pay­ments for their labour have been ig­nored against a mas­sive gift by FI­FA to build a ho­tel. The stake­hold­ers should re­view the fi­nance at hand and seek per­mis­sion to ask FI­FA to pay at­ten­tion to the peo­ple and coach­es who play the match­es for our na­tion­al teams over the ur­gency of the ho­tel, even if it was to start the ho­tel for com­ple­tion in parts, to en­sure that the fi­nanc­ing of in­ter­na­tion­al match­es would take place.

Have the TTFA in­formed the clubs and pub­lic at large as to whether these pro league clubs and Su­per League or­gan­i­sa­tions have paid their reg­is­tra­tion fees, their ref­er­ees, and oth­er in­ci­den­tals such as se­cu­ri­ty for the pro­tec­tion of the fans.? If so, what have the sec­re­tari­at done with these funds?

And just in case any­one be­lieve that this in­for­ma­tion is not nec­es­sary for pub­lic ex­po­sure, I make no apolo­gies to ad­mit proof for some clubs win­ning prize monies in com­pe­ti­tions and did not re­ceive his or her win­nings.

Hav­ing been on the man­age­ment com­mit­tees of both Foot­ball and Crick­et, I can vouch for the fact that these prob­lems have ex­ist­ed for many years and we still seem un­able to find a per­ma­nent so­lu­tion. The qual­i­ty of our sports lead­ers was solid­ly com­pe­tent in their du­ties and play­ers were hap­py to rep­re­sent their coun­try in both sports, al­though there was no salary of­fered to play­ers, ex­cept for a five dol­lar per day for Crick­et.

On tour, our trans­port was com­fort­able, our meals were ex­cel­lent, and I have nev­er heard a play­er com­plain about mon­ey.

Are we so naive that we will con­tin­ue to say noth­ing of the in­com­pe­tence of mod­ern-day man­age­ment and just al­low the qual­i­ty of our ma­jor sports to de­cline south­wards to an al­ready unimag­in­able depth?

Our peo­ple love their sports. If you doubt me, just vis­it their homes dur­ing World Cup Foot­ball, World ICC crick­et, plus the en­ter­tain­ment that they en­joy from the out­side world of Foot­ball, Crick­et, Track and Field, Swim­ming, Box­ing, Field hock­ey for men and women.
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Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #285 on: December 31, 2018, 11:13:05 AM »
Off-field issues plague the ‘beautiful game’.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).


OFF-FIELD issues were the common theme for football in TT during 2018, with problems affecting national teams, the Pro League, the Super League and, most importantly, the local governing body TT Football Association (TTFA).

Hardly a fortnight went by without any news which painted local football in a bad light.

A number of times, fingers were pointed at TTFA president David John-Williams, who did himself no favours by his reluctance to address contentious matters within his own organisation.

One such matter was the Home of Football project, at Balmain, Couva, which is located next to three major sporting venues – the Ato Boldon Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the National Cycling Velodrome.

Throughout the year, certain members of the TTFA, including Keith Look Loy (TT Super League president), Selby Browne (president of the Veterans Football Federation) and Anthony Harford (head of the Northern Football Association), tried unsuccessfully to get John-Williams to offer any form of transparency on his project.

Among the questions repeatedly asked were the contributions of FIFA, TTFA and Government towards the project, companies who submitted bids, the names of the project manager and contractor/sub-contractors and terms of contracts, and the financial status of the project.

In a Newsday article dated November 8, John-Williams told reporter Ryan Hamilton-Davis, during a tour of the facility, that a US $2.5 million (TT $16.85 million) grant was given to the TTFA. The TTFA boss said that the Home of Football was the first fully-funded FIFA Forward project.

He said then, “I have absolutely no problem with transparency in this project. But we took a different approach that a lot of people are not too happy with.”

A stain on the image of local football occurred on December 13 when members (players and technical staff) of the national futsal team were awarded TT $475,743 plus interest at three per cent per annum, after a two-year lawsuit against the TTFA for unpaid salaries, match fees, per diems and expenses for the 2016 CONCACAF Futsal Championships in Costa Rica.

The TTFA was also ordered to pay the legal costs of the futsal team, valued at TT $69,200.

The case revolved around an oral agreement made between team coach and former Strike Squad captain Clayton Morris and John-Williams’ predecessor Raymond Tim Kee.

But the TTFA adopted a stance that the agreement was done before John-Williams took up office (in December 2015) and was in violation of Article 36(j) of their constitution, which gives the board of directors the sole authority to select technical staff for a national team.

In November, the TTFA agreed to pay $207,174.88 to the Metro Hotel in Couva, in 12 equal instalments, to cover the costs for accommodation and meals for the TT Under-20 team and the Barbados men’s team, for various periods, between January and April 2017.

Controversy also followed a pair of national women teams, ahead of respective CONCACAF Championships in the United States.

Ahead of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in October, defenders Lauryn Hutchinson and Arin King took to social media to call for support for the TT women’s programme, as well as assistance for a pre-tournament camp in Richmond, Virginia.

That team featured three people (Jamaal Shabazz, Anton Corneal and Shawn Cooper) holding the positions as coach during this year.

However, they failed in their bid to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

The national Under-15s did not even kick a ball in their CONCACAF tournament as they were denied access to travel to the US, in August, due to the lack of visas.

US Embassy Charge d’Affaires John McIntyre condemned John-Williams for his lack of planning regarding the team’s visa applications.

“(John)-Williams and the TTFA just flat out dropped the ball on the visa process,” said McIntyre, in a media release. “Our Embassy for months noted that individuals and groups should plan well in advance for any trips to the USA. Many groups have successfully travelled to the USA by being prepared and planning in advance.”

The men’s team were active on most FIFA match dates, but their on-field results were average at best.

In six matches, the Dennis Lawrence-coached team won twice (1-0 away to Guadeloupe and 2-0 away to the United Arab Emirates), drew once (a goalless result away to Martinique) and lost three (1-0 at home to Panama, and 1-0 away to Iran and Thailand).

Lawrence, whose two-year-long contract is set expire in January, was touted as the next manager of his former club Wrexham FC in Wales. However, the TTFA issued a media release emphatically stating that Lawrence would not have any talks with Wrexham over the vacancy (which was eventually filled by Graham Barrow).

Lawrence may have a problem on his hands in the foreseeable future as members of his TT squad have threatened to go on strike over their failure to receive match fees, since October 2017, from the TTFA.

National youth teams also faced problems ahead of CONCACAF Qualifiers, and the end-results were disappointing.

The men’s Under-20 team, coached by Russell Latapy, barely had any training session before their Championship in the US in November, and they failed to progress to the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland.

At home, in January, the national women’s Under-17s, under the guidance of Shabazz, lost all three matches, in the group stage, of their CONCACAF qualifiers.

The three main local leagues – Pro League, Super League and Secondary Schools League, were contested this year.

In the Pro League, W Connection captured their sixth league trophy while Central FC claimed the First Citizens Cup.

FC Santa Rosa triumphed in the Super League, with Cunupia FC taking home the Cup title.

And, in the Secondary Schools League, Naparima walked away with the treble – Premier Division, South Zone Intercol and National Intercol crowns.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline kounty

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #286 on: December 31, 2018, 05:20:45 PM »
I am not trying to be picky, but it is Marbella, not Marabella as is in TT. They both mean the same thing though. "beautiful sea".
what about Wrex­ham, Eng­land?

Offline Sando prince

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #287 on: January 01, 2019, 02:37:25 PM »

.
At this stage in TnT we want our next football President to be a man/woman who has a history and already relationships within the private sector. Someone who is professional, someone who is business oriented, someone with a long term vision of success and will implant the necessary elements in our football instructor to develop and seek talent from the grassroots level, Like I said before someone who is "professional" so no issues with having players and coaches paid on time. Someone who will hold himself/herself accountable and hold the men and women beneath him accountable. Someone who will use his private sector experience to help bring forth sponsorship support for national and youth football programs. Someone who is UP TO DATE with TODAY's aspect marketing TT football, which means he will understand the value of social media, television, internet, mainstream radio to intensify momentum behind the national team for future games.

Someone who knows their NO DAMN coach in Trinidad right now that can take our national men and women team out of the deep hole we have thrown ourselves in recent years therefore we need a capable proven foreign coach with his team and he needs to be given full support without any negative interference from the old boys local coaches club or from the TTFA administration. Someone who will have a young local coach eager to learn as an assistant under this foreign coach therefore , once again like I said someone with long term vision will understand this

In the end we do not need someone who has football experience per say, he never had to be a coach or football player.
.

Let me repeat again since win in the midst of TTFA Administrative woes and players unpaid for more than a year

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #288 on: January 04, 2019, 06:09:16 AM »
TTFA pays four match fees but Warriors maintain strike threat; DJW urged to reveal contracts with foreign FAs.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has paid match fees to its Men’s National Senior Team players for four of six outstanding games, although president David John-Williams is believed to remain some distance from mending his relationship with the Soca Warriors.

On Tuesday 18 December, Wired868 revealed exclusively that the TTFA owed players for outings against Mexico (6 October 2017), USA (10 October 2017), Grenada (11 November 2017), United Arab Emirates (6 September 2018), Thailand (14 October 2018) and Iran (15 November 2018).

The players were owed US$1,500 for their World Cup qualifying win over the United States and US$1,000 for their qualifying loss to Mexico, while all their remaining matches were valued at US$300 each.

On the same day of Wired868’s report, a player—who spoke on condition of anonymity—said John-Williams finally authorised payment for their games away to Thailand and Iran. Ironically, the controversial administrator then paid for the Mexico and UAE fixtures within hours of our second story on Christmas Eve. As a result, this article was updated to reflect the fact that the TTFA has now paid four match fees, as opposed to two.

However, thus far, the Warriors remain adamant that they will not represent their country in a friendly international away to Wales on 20 March 2019 unless the TTFA wipes out its entire debt to players and staff, which was given at TT$707,000 before last week’s payment.

Even if the TTFA’s meets its financial obligation to players on time, there is growing dissent regarding the US$300 match fees offered by John-Williams, which is less than a third of the US$1,000 per game provided by his predecessor, Raymond Tim Kee.

Last November, Minnesota United attacking midfielder Kevin Molino allegedly refused to play for the current match fee. And, after John-Williams boasted about getting his players to accept the vastly reduced sum—during a TV6 interview—at least one other overseas-based player vowed to join Molino on the sidelines in 2019.

An anonymous National Senior Team player said they will again approach John-Williams on the matter. Last November, the players asked the TTFA to at least pay US$800 per game. Several players told Wired868 that the football president promised to pay US$500 and to raise the fee to US$600, as soon as the body’s financial health improved.

However, John-Williams allegedly reneged on his verbal proposal and continued to offer US$300 match fees.

“We have to speak about match fees,” said the player. “I don’t think much of the players are willing to play for US$300 anymore.”

Part of the players’ concern is that the TTFA received appearance fees from their away matches against the UAE, Thailand and Iran. So why were they not immediately paid from that money?

Board member Keith Look Loy confirmed that the TTFA’s match contracts were never brought before the board and, over the weekend, he urged John-Williams to be transparent about financial arrangements for the international games.

“I have read with alarm recent reports regarding he non-payment of outstanding match fees to MSNT players, dating back to our last WC 2020 qualifying match against USA,” Look Loy stated in a letter to John-Williams, which was copied to the entire board. “As we are all aware, the TTFA Board has had no involvement with the recent round of international friendlies being played by our SMNT, nor has it approved any contact for same.

“I would, therefore, appreciate a copy of any contract for the matches played recently, or to be played in 2019, i.e. against Thailand, UAE, Iran, Wales.

“Further, given the problems with the participation of our national teams at all levels in international competition, I wish to know how you propose [the] TTFA should proceed on this front in 2019 and beyond.

“I await your response.”

Thus far, John-Williams has not responded to his board or Wired868 regarding the unpaid fees or international match contracts for National Senior Team matches.

John-Williams further irked local stakeholders last week when he travelled to the FIFA Forward Programme 2.0 Workshop at Barbados’ Hilton hotel with former Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) general secretary Camara David for company.

According to FIFA, the workshop—which is meant to bring member associations “up to speed with the new funding opportunities available”—is designed for “presidents, general secretaries, development officers and finance directors” of the various associations.

However, John-Williams did not invite current general secretary Justin Latapy-George and took David instead.

John-Williams and Latapy-George have had a strained relationship over the past three months with the TTFA general secretary sensationally revealing, two months ago, that his president ordered him to hide the resignation of vice-president Joanne Salazar from the board.

John-Williams subsequently advised Latapy-George, whose contract expired last month, to start looking for a new job. The football president is expected to decide on the general secretary matter when the marathon AGM ends with the final reconvened meeting next month.

In the TTFA’s reconvened AGM on 9 December, Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association vice-president Osmond Downer moved a motion urging John-Williams to take Latapy-George’s satisfactory work into account when considering the renewal of his contract.

The meeting voted in favour of the motion.

Look Loy suggested that John-Williams’ decision to take David—who is widely regarded as the president’s new man of business and general secretary-in-waiting—to the FIFA workshop was disrespectful to the will of the membership and classless, considering that Latapy-George remains on the job.

“The continuous duplicity of DJW is a stain on our country, our football and our football association,” Look Loy told Wired868. “How is it possible that the leaders of football—the members of the ttfa board and general meeting—could continue to accept the president’s never ending disrespect for the constitution and institutions of the TTFA, even in the face of his almost daily mismanagement and deceit?

“Camara David does not exist within the framework of our football. He holds no office nor is he employed anywhere in football. Surely, his tagging along with DJW to Barbados was an act completely lacking in ethics and legality.

“[…] The blame for all of DJW’s shenanigans rests squarely on the drooping shoulders of the TTFA board and the TTFA general meeting, which both refuse to rein him in, and dismiss him as he should be.”

Central Football Association (CFA) general secretary Clynt Taylor also called for clarity from John-Williams on the fate of his general secretary while FC Santa Rosa official Jason Laban described the TTFA president’s behaviour as grossly disrespectful.

However if, as expected, John-Williams recommends that David replace Latapy-George next month, he will have some support from the TTFA constitution.

At the reconvened AGM earlier this month, the John-Williams pointed to article 36(f) of the constitution which states that the board of directors: “shall appoint or dismiss the General Secretary on the proposal of the President.”

Downer, one of the framers of the constitution, told John-Williams then that his interpretation of his powers on the issue was a violation of the spirit of the constitution.

“That is an error; it should be shall consider the appointment of dismissal of the General Secretary on the proposal of the President,” Downer told the meeting. “Otherwise why go to the board with it at all? It must be up to the board to make the final consideration for appointment or dismissal; otherwise the president can select anybody he wants—even members of his family—and it must be done because of the word ‘shall’.”

Without an amendment to the constitution, John-Williams is likely to win that war although it could mean that David’s official tenure starts on awkward footing.

David, arguably, has already began to act as general secretary, even with Latapy-George still on the job.

Editor’s Note: TTFA president David John-Williams completed payment of match fees for the Mexico and UAE friendlies AFTER our second report on the issue on 24 December. This article has been updated to reflect the football body’s current liability to its players.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #289 on: January 11, 2019, 04:17:34 PM »
Confusion as TTFA fails to pay match fees to 10 players; Ranjitsingh among blanked Warriors.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


Relations between Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams and the National Senior Team are in danger of deteriorating further, after the discovery that roughly half of the squad were not paid match fees for internationals against Mexico and the United Arab Emirates in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

On 14 December 2018, four Soca Warriors revealed to Wired868 that they were waiting for as long as 14 months for match fees from international duty against: Mexico (6 October 2017), USA (10 October 2017), Grenada (11 November 2017), United Arab Emirates (6 September 2018), Thailand (14 October 2018) and Iran (15 November 2018).

Trinidad and Tobago’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over USA on 10 October 2017 was easily the most high profile result in three years under the John-Williams administration. Yet to date, the local football body has not paid the promised US$1,000 match fee plus US$500 win bonus for the affair.

Just hours after the initial story was published, John-Williams authorised payments for friendlies against Thailand and Iran—both controversially valued at US$300 each—while, on Christmas Eve, payments were made for the Mexico (US$1,000) and UAE (US$300) outings as well.

However, a reliable source close to the local football body revealed that 10 players were surprisingly overlooked during the latter pay-out.

There was no apparent pattern to the omissions as the players were a combination of overseas-based and local-based and several received money for other matches earlier that month, so the football body had their accurate bank information.

The 10 unpaid players, according to the source, are: team captain Khaleem Hyland, Leston Paul, Kevan George, Trevin Caesar, Ataulla Guerra, Marvin Phillip, Daneil Cyrus, Joevin Jones, Aubrey David and Greg Ranjitsingh.

The 25 year old Ranjitsingh, who was born in Toronto and qualifies to play for Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, was recently snapped up by US Major League Soccer (MLS) club, Orlando City.

He is still uncapped by the Soca Warriors and has not rejoined coach Dennis Lawrence’s squad since the qualifiers against Mexico and United States when he was an unused substitute. Almost 15 months later, the TTFA still owes the talented goalkeeper US$2,500.

Worse, according to the source, is John-Williams’ alleged refusal to speak directly to the players and explain the source of their issues or provide any assurances.

“All they were told is John-Williams didn’t give the authority to pay those players and there was no reason given,” the source told Wired868. “They can’t say when they will be paid either but they were told that those payments would be made along with the two outstanding match fees.”

Such inadequate communication, according to the source, is the norm rather than the exception for John-Williams; and although the players resent it, they no longer expect anything better.

“The players never hear anything from John-Williams and he never communicates with them,” said the anonymous source. “The only time he ever spoke to them directly in the last year was just before the AGM—when he wanted to make sure that everyone kept quiet until he dealt with a motion to dismiss him as president.

“Otherwise, he just sends a message through the coach or [team manager] Richard Piper. So the players never get a chance to put their case directly to him and have a proper discussion.”

Among the issues troubling the players is the current fee of US$300 for friendly matches, which is a huge drop from the US$1,000 paid under the last two football presidents.

The players allegedly countered with a proposed fee structure according to the ranking of their opponents. They suggested US$1,000 for the starting team against opposition ranked in the top 80 FIFA nations and US$750 and US$500 for used and unused substitutes respectively. For matches against lower-ranked nations, the Warriors were willing to accept US$750 for starters and US$500 for all substitutes.

Although the proposal was sent months ago, John-Williams has still neither accepted nor dismissed it.

The players are understood to be anxious to negotiate a pay structure for the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup as well, which kicks off in June.

Last month, the Warriors said they would refuse to play against Wales unless all outstanding match fees were paid while some players insisted that they would not continue to turn out for US$300, as they felt disrespected by John-Williams.

Wired868 asked John-Williams to confirm whether the 10 players were unpaid and, if so, to explain why that was so. The football president was also asked to comment on the national players’ concern about the amount offered for match fees at present.

John-Williams had not responded up to the time of publication.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #290 on: January 11, 2019, 06:36:56 PM »
So with men like DJW in charge, why would Greg, Shaq Moore, Bostock, Deleon want to play for TT?

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #291 on: January 29, 2019, 01:44:46 AM »
UEFA sees positive path ahead for T&T football.
TTFA Media.


Following a week of consultations and forum discussions between officials of UEFA and TTFA including various stakeholders, the consensus shared at a Press Conference at the Hyatt Regency on Monday was that the local football factions are on the right path towards sustainable development.

Robert Pon­gracz, a UEFA Football operations specialist  said a US$1mil­lion pro­pos­al is to be di­vid­ed among the two top tier Leagues (Pro League and Super League) with two main char­ac­ter­is­tics, the first is for there to be equal shar­ing among the clubs and there­by en­abling clubs to plan ahead, as they will know how much they will be earn­ing. And the sec­ond is for clubs to re­ceive monies based on their per­for­mances.

Pon­gracz al­so made a recommendation for a sys­tem of pro­mo­tion and relegation which will in­spire clubs to strive for ex­cel­lence and be re­ward­ed for it.

“Foot­ball is not just about play­ing foot­ball, but all the ad­min­is­tra­tion be­hind it. The mar­ket­ing stuff we have bud­get­ed for it, so the club has to learn what has to be done in this mod­ern world to at­tract the fans. Apart from that, we are in­vest­ing heav­i­ly in ed­u­ca­tion, as the clubs must know that there are dif­fer­ent sources of rev­enue.”

The UE­FA al­so pro­posed a club li­cens­ing sys­tem which will be used to guide clubs in un­der­stand­ing what is nec­es­sary to com­bat to­day’s foot­ball chal­lenges. Though the li­cens­ing sys­tem has be­come a norm world­wide, the UE­FA is in the process of fine tun­ing it to show ways it can ben­e­fit clubs.

Howard McIn­tosh, CON­CA­CAF and Caribbean projects se­nior man­ag­er ad­mit­ted there is a lot of work to do on the path of the TTFA to turn around the for­tunes of lo­cal foot­ball. How­ev­er, he be­lieves that be­cause of the po­si­tion­ing of the TTFA, with its own head of­fice, home of foot­ball and its own sta­di­um, it can take im­me­di­ate ad­van­tage of its sit­u­a­tion with some tweak­ing and hard work.

He said TT foot­ball is for­tu­nate present­ly, with the best foot­ball fa­cil­i­ties in the Caribbean, the most sup­port­ive gov­ern­ment, most sup­port from FI­FA, CON­CA­CAF and the CFU, has a home of foot­ball, and has a pas­sion­ate foot­ball pres­i­dent and peo­ple.

“The pro league can be tweaked in six weeks and im­ple­ment­ed. Home of Foot­ball can be tweaked in three months and the strate­gic plan in two months and im­ple­ment­ed” Mc In­tosh said. The TTFA has been a ben­e­fi­cia­ry of the FI­FA For­ward pro­gramme, like many oth­er coun­tries, which, be­cause of its achieve­ment over the years, has achieved an in­crease amount from the world gov­ern­ing body for the sport of US$1 mil­lion from US$500,000 for op­er­a­tional ex­pens­es, and US$750,000 for cap­i­tal projects over the past three years.

UE­FA’s Head of In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions Eva Easquier made it clear her or­ga­ni­za­tion was not here to im­pose the prac­tices of Eu­rope on lo­cal foot­ball, but rather to look at the game and of­fer ideas to im­prove it, and the way it is run, by of­fer­ing tips on best prac­tice.

UE­FA of­fi­cials left a list rec­om­men­da­tion to en­hance the lo­cal game and make it sus­tain­able when they were here five months ago and it en­tailed in­creased in­volve­ment by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. Easquier said her team dealt with two mis­sions, name­ly the now con­tro­ver­sial Home of Foot­ball, which is ex­pect­ed to solve a num­ber of fi­nan­cial prob­lems be­ing faced: and the in­tro­duc­tion of a prop­er gov­er­nance struc­ture to as­sist the T&T Pro League.

RELATED NEWS

UEFA proposes US$1M to fix local football.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


Clubs must grow, be­come sus­tain­able

A glob­al fig­ure of US$1 mil­lion is be­ing pro­posed over a two-year pe­ri­od by the UE­FA to fix the is­sues fac­ing the T&T Pro League and lo­cal foot­ball in gen­er­al in the short to medi­um term.

But the onus is on clubs to grow and be self-sus­tain­able. Yes­ter­day Robert Pon­gracz, a vice pres­i­dent at the Ro­man­ian Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion who is among a team work­ing with the UE­FA on spe­cial de­vel­op­ment projects such as this one, said the pro­pos­al was made in the spir­it of the part­ner­ship with the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion, to as­sist lo­cal foot­ball. And at a press con­fer­ence at the Hy­att Ho­tel, Port-of-Spain, Pon­gracz be­lieves there is a dire need to make the prod­uct foot­ball more ex­cit­ing if cor­po­rate cit­i­zens have to come on board.

The US$1mil­lion pro­pos­al is to be di­vid­ed among the two Leagues with two main char­ac­ter­is­tics, the first is for there to be equal shar­ing among the clubs and there­by en­abling clubs to plan ahead, as they will know how much they will be earn­ing. And the sec­ond is for clubs to re­ceive monies based on their per­for­mances.

Pon­gracz al­so called for a sys­tem of pro­mo­tion and de­mo­tion which will in­spire clubs to strive for ex­cel­lence and be re­ward­ed for it.

He said, "Foot­ball is not just about play­ing foot­ball, but all the ad­min­is­tra­tion be­hind it. The mar­ket­ing stuff we have bud­get­ed for it, so the club has to learn what has to be done in this mod­ern world to at­tract the fans. Apart from that, we are in­vest­ing heav­i­ly in ed­u­ca­tion, as the clubs must know that there are dif­fer­ent sources of rev­enue."

The UE­FA al­so pro­posed a club li­cens­ing sys­tem which will be used to guide clubs in un­der­stand­ing what is nec­es­sary to com­bat to­day's foot­ball chal­lenges. Though the li­cens­ing sys­tem has be­come a norm world­wide, the UE­FA is in the process of fine tun­ing it to show ways it can ben­e­fit clubs.

Robert Mc In­tosh, CON­CA­CAF and Caribbean projects se­nior man­ag­er ad­mit­ted there is a lot of work to do on the path of the TTFA to turn around the for­tunes of lo­cal foot­ball. How­ev­er, he be­lieves that be­cause of the po­si­tion­ing of the TTFA, with its own head of­fice, home of foot­ball and its own sta­di­um, it can take im­me­di­ate ad­van­tage of its sit­u­a­tion with some tweak­ing and hard work.

He said TT foot­ball is for­tu­nate present­ly, with the best foot­ball fa­cil­i­ties in the Caribbean, the most sup­port­ive gov­ern­ment, most sup­port from FI­FA, CON­CA­CAF and the CFU, has a home of foot­ball, and has a pas­sion­ate foot­ball pres­i­dent and peo­ple.

"The pro league can be tweaked in six weeks and im­ple­ment­ed. Home of Foot­ball can be tweaked in three months and the strate­gic plan in two months and im­ple­ment­ed" Mc In­tosh said. The TTFA has been a ben­e­fi­cia­ry of the FI­FA For­ward pro­gramme, like many oth­er coun­tries, which, be­cause of its achieve­ment over the years, has achieved an in­crease amount from the world gov­ern­ing body for the sport of US$1 mil­lion from US$500,000 for op­er­a­tional ex­pens­es, and US$750,000 for cap­i­tal projects over the past three years.

UE­FA's Head of In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions Ava Easquier made it clear her or­ga­ni­za­tion was not here to im­pose the prac­tices of Eu­rope on lo­cal foot­ball, but rather to look at the game and of­fer ideas to im­prove it, and the way it is run, by of­fer­ing tips on best prac­tice.

UE­FA of­fi­cials left a list rec­om­men­da­tion to en­hance the lo­cal game and make it sus­tain­able when they were here five months ago and it en­tailed in­creased in­volve­ment by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. Easquier said her team dealt with two mis­sions, name­ly the now con­tro­ver­sial Home of Foot­ball, which is ex­pect­ed to solve a num­ber of fi­nan­cial prob­lems be­ing faced: and the in­tro­duc­tion of a prop­er gov­er­nance struc­ture to as­sist the T&T Pro League.

It is be­cause of the dire fi­nan­cial bur­dens the TTFA has in­her­it­ed that a num­ber of de­vel­op­ment pro­grammes are not be­ing rolled out, she ex­plained. Her as­sess­ment of the state of foot­ball al­so re­vealed the need for prop­er com­mu­ni­ca­tion and trans­paren­cy.

UEFA proposes US$2m for football development.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).


TTFA, Pro League told to stand on their own feet –

THE TT Football Association (TTFA) will be hoping to get $2 million US over a two-year period through the FIFA Forward Programme to help with the development of local football. However, UEFA and CONCACAF officials are urging the TTFA to use this period to ensure local football can stand on its own feet.

Over the past week, UEFA, CONCACAF and TTFA officials have had daily meetings and discussions centred around charting a way forward for the TTFA as it pertains to good governance and football operations in TT.

Yesterday, a press conference, at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain was held to discuss the week’s proceedings. The conference included TTFA president David John-Williams, senior executive at CONCACAF Howard McIntosh, head of international relations at UEFA Eva Pasquier, football operations specialist at UEFA Robert Pongracz and project specialist at International Relations of UEFA Chris Miles.

McIntosh said TT is fortunate that assistance is provided from the Government of TT. McIntosh said, “The Sport Company has already committed funding for three years – one was last year and you have two years remaining on that – and now the proposal that is on the table is that the TTFA, through the FIFA Forward Programme, use a portion of those monies specifically dedicated to projects to support professional football. The total amount of funds that has been proposed is approximately US$2 million over the period of the two years.”

McIntosh encouraged the TTFA to use the two-year period to put systems in place to ensure that the local football association is not dependent on the Government.

“The general idea there is to use that period to put in place a solid foundation to ensure the sustainability of professional football in TT. You have been lucky in that you’ve been able to go back to the Government a lot of times to get support. The idea is that the TTFA and the Pro League must now start to stand on its own foot and the idea is to use this period to ensure that structure is put in place – proper governance, proper marketing, proper commercial engagement, proper competition structure to make the product attractive and ensure more sustainability.”

Pongracz said the proposal considers what happens behind the scenes to help football develop. “Football is not just playing football, it is all the administration behind clubs. Therefore, marketing staff and activities we have budgeted for it in this proposal, so the clubs have the possibility to learn what has to be done or what can be done in this modern world in order to attract the fans.”

Pongracz said administrators must find a number of ways to earn money for football clubs. “We are looking to develop several sources of income for the clubs. It cannot be the club is just relying on some sources and depend on them. They have to know and understand that the ability of a club has to be to develop further and find different sources of revenue.”

To qualify for funding all the TTFA programmes must be running such as the Pro League, Super League, referee programmes and women’s football.

« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 01:47:35 AM by Flex »
The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Tiresais

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #292 on: January 29, 2019, 02:29:14 AM »
"Group, motivated by White Man's Burden and paternal patronising, say that another group, who funded their holiday to the Caribbean, might be alright."

Glad UEFA is there to tell us the crippling debt, lack of autonomy or say in how football is run, and the sheer shit-storm of the top two divisions is all gravy.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #293 on: January 29, 2019, 08:16:02 AM »
The dollar figures stated in those articles do not suggest conviction by UEFA or FIFA that the objectives will be met or can be met or are going to be met. Those are paltry sums to accomplish the task at hand. Apparently the plan is to creep to the finish line and to stop in the middle of the creeping to assess the conditions (including distance to go).

Development programs by themselves demand a huge budget allocation. And, a comprehensive "development program" requires a centralized budget, not reactionary decision-making to what a decentralized process offers (of which there is reliance in the present operating model that UEFA/FIFA/CONCACAF have recognized is not viable).

Each junior national team across both genders requires separate budget allocations that should not be subsumed within the broader development program allocation(s).

And I haven't mentioned the Pro League yet.

In short, this wicket is stickier than sticky fingers.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 08:21:27 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #294 on: January 29, 2019, 08:39:29 AM »
UEFA sees positive path ahead for T&T football.
TTFA Media.


Following a week of consultations and forum discussions between officials of UEFA and TTFA including various stakeholders, the consensus shared at a Press Conference at the Hyatt Regency on Monday was that the local football factions are on the right path towards sustainable development.

Robert Pon­gracz, a UEFA Football operations specialist  said a US$1mil­lion pro­pos­al is to be di­vid­ed among the two top tier Leagues (Pro League and Super League) with two main char­ac­ter­is­tics, the first is for there to be equal shar­ing among the clubs and there­by en­abling clubs to plan ahead, as they will know how much they will be earn­ing. And the sec­ond is for clubs to re­ceive monies based on their per­for­mances.

Pon­gracz al­so made a recommendation for a sys­tem of pro­mo­tion and relegation which will in­spire clubs to strive for ex­cel­lence and be re­ward­ed for it.

“Foot­ball is not just about play­ing foot­ball, but all the ad­min­is­tra­tion be­hind it. The mar­ket­ing stuff we have bud­get­ed for it, so the club has to learn what has to be done in this mod­ern world to at­tract the fans. Apart from that, we are in­vest­ing heav­i­ly in ed­u­ca­tion, as the clubs must know that there are dif­fer­ent sources of rev­enue.”

The UE­FA al­so pro­posed a club li­cens­ing sys­tem which will be used to guide clubs in un­der­stand­ing what is nec­es­sary to com­bat to­day’s foot­ball chal­lenges. Though the li­cens­ing sys­tem has be­come a norm world­wide, the UE­FA is in the process of fine tun­ing it to show ways it can ben­e­fit clubs.

Howard McIn­tosh, CON­CA­CAF and Caribbean projects se­nior man­ag­er ad­mit­ted there is a lot of work to do on the path of the TTFA to turn around the for­tunes of lo­cal foot­ball. How­ev­er, he be­lieves that be­cause of the po­si­tion­ing of the TTFA, with its own head of­fice, home of foot­ball and its own sta­di­um, it can take im­me­di­ate ad­van­tage of its sit­u­a­tion with some tweak­ing and hard work.

He said TT foot­ball is for­tu­nate present­ly, with the best foot­ball fa­cil­i­ties in the Caribbean, the most sup­port­ive gov­ern­ment, most sup­port from FI­FA, CON­CA­CAF and the CFU, has a home of foot­ball, and has a pas­sion­ate foot­ball pres­i­dent and peo­ple.

“The pro league can be tweaked in six weeks and im­ple­ment­ed. Home of Foot­ball can be tweaked in three months and the strate­gic plan in two months and im­ple­ment­ed” Mc In­tosh said. The TTFA has been a ben­e­fi­cia­ry of the FI­FA For­ward pro­gramme, like many oth­er coun­tries, which, be­cause of its achieve­ment over the years, has achieved an in­crease amount from the world gov­ern­ing body for the sport of US$1 mil­lion from US$500,000 for op­er­a­tional ex­pens­es, and US$750,000 for cap­i­tal projects over the past three years.

UE­FA’s Head of In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions Eva Easquier made it clear her or­ga­ni­za­tion was not here to im­pose the prac­tices of Eu­rope on lo­cal foot­ball, but rather to look at the game and of­fer ideas to im­prove it, and the way it is run, by of­fer­ing tips on best prac­tice.

UE­FA of­fi­cials left a list rec­om­men­da­tion to en­hance the lo­cal game and make it sus­tain­able when they were here five months ago and it en­tailed in­creased in­volve­ment by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. Easquier said her team dealt with two mis­sions, name­ly the now con­tro­ver­sial Home of Foot­ball, which is ex­pect­ed to solve a num­ber of fi­nan­cial prob­lems be­ing faced: and the in­tro­duc­tion of a prop­er gov­er­nance struc­ture to as­sist the T&T Pro League.

RELATED NEWS

UEFA proposes US$1M to fix local football.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


Clubs must grow, be­come sus­tain­able

A glob­al fig­ure of US$1 mil­lion is be­ing pro­posed over a two-year pe­ri­od by the UE­FA to fix the is­sues fac­ing the T&T Pro League and lo­cal foot­ball in gen­er­al in the short to medi­um term.

But the onus is on clubs to grow and be self-sus­tain­able. Yes­ter­day Robert Pon­gracz, a vice pres­i­dent at the Ro­man­ian Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion who is among a team work­ing with the UE­FA on spe­cial de­vel­op­ment projects such as this one, said the pro­pos­al was made in the spir­it of the part­ner­ship with the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion, to as­sist lo­cal foot­ball. And at a press con­fer­ence at the Hy­att Ho­tel, Port-of-Spain, Pon­gracz be­lieves there is a dire need to make the prod­uct foot­ball more ex­cit­ing if cor­po­rate cit­i­zens have to come on board.

The US$1mil­lion pro­pos­al is to be di­vid­ed among the two Leagues with two main char­ac­ter­is­tics, the first is for there to be equal shar­ing among the clubs and there­by en­abling clubs to plan ahead, as they will know how much they will be earn­ing. And the sec­ond is for clubs to re­ceive monies based on their per­for­mances.

Pon­gracz al­so called for a sys­tem of pro­mo­tion and de­mo­tion which will in­spire clubs to strive for ex­cel­lence and be re­ward­ed for it.

He said, "Foot­ball is not just about play­ing foot­ball, but all the ad­min­is­tra­tion be­hind it. The mar­ket­ing stuff we have bud­get­ed for it, so the club has to learn what has to be done in this mod­ern world to at­tract the fans. Apart from that, we are in­vest­ing heav­i­ly in ed­u­ca­tion, as the clubs must know that there are dif­fer­ent sources of rev­enue."

The UE­FA al­so pro­posed a club li­cens­ing sys­tem which will be used to guide clubs in un­der­stand­ing what is nec­es­sary to com­bat to­day's foot­ball chal­lenges. Though the li­cens­ing sys­tem has be­come a norm world­wide, the UE­FA is in the process of fine tun­ing it to show ways it can ben­e­fit clubs.

Robert Mc In­tosh, CON­CA­CAF and Caribbean projects se­nior man­ag­er ad­mit­ted there is a lot of work to do on the path of the TTFA to turn around the for­tunes of lo­cal foot­ball. How­ev­er, he be­lieves that be­cause of the po­si­tion­ing of the TTFA, with its own head of­fice, home of foot­ball and its own sta­di­um, it can take im­me­di­ate ad­van­tage of its sit­u­a­tion with some tweak­ing and hard work.

He said TT foot­ball is for­tu­nate present­ly, with the best foot­ball fa­cil­i­ties in the Caribbean, the most sup­port­ive gov­ern­ment, most sup­port from FI­FA, CON­CA­CAF and the CFU, has a home of foot­ball, and has a pas­sion­ate foot­ball pres­i­dent and peo­ple.

"The pro league can be tweaked in six weeks and im­ple­ment­ed. Home of Foot­ball can be tweaked in three months and the strate­gic plan in two months and im­ple­ment­ed" Mc In­tosh said. The TTFA has been a ben­e­fi­cia­ry of the FI­FA For­ward pro­gramme, like many oth­er coun­tries, which, be­cause of its achieve­ment over the years, has achieved an in­crease amount from the world gov­ern­ing body for the sport of US$1 mil­lion from US$500,000 for op­er­a­tional ex­pens­es, and US$750,000 for cap­i­tal projects over the past three years.

UE­FA's Head of In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions Ava Easquier made it clear her or­ga­ni­za­tion was not here to im­pose the prac­tices of Eu­rope on lo­cal foot­ball, but rather to look at the game and of­fer ideas to im­prove it, and the way it is run, by of­fer­ing tips on best prac­tice.

UE­FA of­fi­cials left a list rec­om­men­da­tion to en­hance the lo­cal game and make it sus­tain­able when they were here five months ago and it en­tailed in­creased in­volve­ment by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. Easquier said her team dealt with two mis­sions, name­ly the now con­tro­ver­sial Home of Foot­ball, which is ex­pect­ed to solve a num­ber of fi­nan­cial prob­lems be­ing faced: and the in­tro­duc­tion of a prop­er gov­er­nance struc­ture to as­sist the T&T Pro League.

It is be­cause of the dire fi­nan­cial bur­dens the TTFA has in­her­it­ed that a num­ber of de­vel­op­ment pro­grammes are not be­ing rolled out, she ex­plained. Her as­sess­ment of the state of foot­ball al­so re­vealed the need for prop­er com­mu­ni­ca­tion and trans­paren­cy.

UEFA proposes US$2m for football development.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).


TTFA, Pro League told to stand on their own feet –

THE TT Football Association (TTFA) will be hoping to get $2 million US over a two-year period through the FIFA Forward Programme to help with the development of local football. However, UEFA and CONCACAF officials are urging the TTFA to use this period to ensure local football can stand on its own feet.

Over the past week, UEFA, CONCACAF and TTFA officials have had daily meetings and discussions centred around charting a way forward for the TTFA as it pertains to good governance and football operations in TT.

Yesterday, a press conference, at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain was held to discuss the week’s proceedings. The conference included TTFA president David John-Williams, senior executive at CONCACAF Howard McIntosh, head of international relations at UEFA Eva Pasquier, football operations specialist at UEFA Robert Pongracz and project specialist at International Relations of UEFA Chris Miles.

McIntosh said TT is fortunate that assistance is provided from the Government of TT. McIntosh said, “The Sport Company has already committed funding for three years – one was last year and you have two years remaining on that – and now the proposal that is on the table is that the TTFA, through the FIFA Forward Programme, use a portion of those monies specifically dedicated to projects to support professional football. The total amount of funds that has been proposed is approximately US$2 million over the period of the two years.”

McIntosh encouraged the TTFA to use the two-year period to put systems in place to ensure that the local football association is not dependent on the Government.

“The general idea there is to use that period to put in place a solid foundation to ensure the sustainability of professional football in TT. You have been lucky in that you’ve been able to go back to the Government a lot of times to get support. The idea is that the TTFA and the Pro League must now start to stand on its own foot and the idea is to use this period to ensure that structure is put in place – proper governance, proper marketing, proper commercial engagement, proper competition structure to make the product attractive and ensure more sustainability.”

Pongracz said the proposal considers what happens behind the scenes to help football develop. “Football is not just playing football, it is all the administration behind clubs. Therefore, marketing staff and activities we have budgeted for it in this proposal, so the clubs have the possibility to learn what has to be done or what can be done in this modern world in order to attract the fans.”

Pongracz said administrators must find a number of ways to earn money for football clubs. “We are looking to develop several sources of income for the clubs. It cannot be the club is just relying on some sources and depend on them. They have to know and understand that the ability of a club has to be to develop further and find different sources of revenue.”

To qualify for funding all the TTFA programmes must be running such as the Pro League, Super League, referee programmes and women’s football.



He said TT foot­ball is for­tu­nate present­ly, with the best foot­ball fa­cil­i­ties in the Caribbean, the most sup­port­ive gov­ern­ment, most sup­port from FI­FA, CON­CA­CAF and the CFU, has a home of foot­ball, and has a pas­sion­ate foot­ball pres­i­dent and peo­ple.


I have issue with AB stadium being given the appearance that TTFA own that stadium. That is a gov't facility. The gov't maintain it. TTFA has no resources to own and run any facility. The second point is, how does Connection figure is this. Connection has used that stadium for a long time. I have no problem with that. Do Connection and TTFA share the money. What happens when DJW mandatory term is up. Who will run the hotel? A DJW backed group? Hilton? Marriot? Bed-Bug Inn?
« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 08:41:02 AM by Deeks »

Offline Tallman

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #295 on: January 29, 2019, 08:49:16 AM »
John-Williams says, ‘plan in place’ for TTFA matters
By Jelani Beckles (T&T Newsday)


TT Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams said “a plan is in place” to resolve the issues involving board member Keith Look Loy and technical director of the TTFA Anton Corneal.

TTFA board member Keith Look Loy has a matter in court against the TTFA in relation to information concerning the Home of Football, in Couva. Also, two weeks ago technical director at the TTFA Anton Corneal decided to withhold his services because of unpaid salaries.

During a press conference, at the Hyatt Regency yesterday, John-Williams, asked about both situations, said, “You will just have to wait and see. There is a plan in place and when there is a conversation in relation to that it will be made available.”

Probed more about the Look Loy situation, John-Williams said, “I ensure that information that has been requested was presented to the general meeting and the general membership is really happy about it.”

Senior executive at CONCACAF Howard McIntosh speaking about the situations facing the TTFA off the field, said, “Yes we have discussed it, yes it is always a concern...we really hope that within the next couple of months a number of these matters are indeed resolved so we could get back to focusing on football because those matters you raised – salaries, court cases and all of that is a conversation we really want to get away from.” McIntosh wants football on the field to be the focus.
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Offline Tiresais

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #296 on: January 29, 2019, 09:12:32 AM »
John-Williams says, ‘plan in place’ for TTFA matters
By Jelani Beckles (T&T Newsday)


TT Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams said “a plan is in place” to resolve the issues involving board member Keith Look Loy and technical director of the TTFA Anton Corneal.

TTFA board member Keith Look Loy has a matter in court against the TTFA in relation to information concerning the Home of Football, in Couva. Also, two weeks ago technical director at the TTFA Anton Corneal decided to withhold his services because of unpaid salaries.

During a press conference, at the Hyatt Regency yesterday, John-Williams, asked about both situations, said, “You will just have to wait and see. There is a plan in place and when there is a conversation in relation to that it will be made available.”

Probed more about the Look Loy situation, John-Williams said, “I ensure that information that has been requested was presented to the general meeting and the general membership is really happy about it.”

Senior executive at CONCACAF Howard McIntosh speaking about the situations facing the TTFA off the field, said, “Yes we have discussed it, yes it is always a concern...we really hope that within the next couple of months a number of these matters are indeed resolved so we could get back to focusing on football because those matters you raised – salaries, court cases and all of that is a conversation we really want to get away from.” McIntosh wants football on the field to be the focus.

I mean it will be settled if he gives another kindergarden-level testimony in court, just not the way he likes...

Offline Tallman

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #297 on: February 05, 2019, 08:03:56 AM »
John-Williams: It wasn’t me...Camara David named TTFA General Secretary on FIFA website
By Andrew Gioannetti(T&T Newsday)


THE football-supporting public may have had good reason to believe the TT Football Association (TTFA) has a new general secretary in the form of Camara David.

Camara, who was never an employee of the TTFA, is named as the association's general secretary on FIFA.com. Even more alarming is the fact that Justin Latapy-George, whose contract expired on November 30, continues to act daily in the very same role.

The official FIFA web-page also indicated there are three vice-presidents: Allan Warner, Ewing Davis and Joanne Salazar, although two – Warner and Salazar – resigned from their VP posts last year. The field for TTFA treasurer is blank.

Newsday sent an email to John-Williams asking how Camara's name came to reflect that of the association's general secretary on FIFA's website, if Camara signed any contract with the TTFA to reflect such and if the board was aware and gave approval.

John-Williams's responded via e-mail: "Dear sir, I have not communicated such information to FIFA."

Asked further whether the TTFA currently has an active general secretary, John-Williams said, "Maybe you should direct your question to the current GS and ask if he has been removed from his position or is he still in post. Too much mischief and agendas I am seeing."

Newsday was unable to reach both Latapy-George and Camara for clarity on their positions as calls to their cellphone went unanswered.

TTFA board members contacted yesterday said Latapy-George continues to share official correspondence with them, sits at meetings and conducts the regular functions of general secretary.

Recently, board members chided John-Williams for allegedly carrying Camara with him to Barbados for a FIFA Forward workshop in December last year, which was exclusively for regional football association presidents and general secretaries.

Newsday had e-mailed John-Williams to clarify the status of Camara at that workshop but he refused to address the issue. He said, "Noted. I reserve any response. I will advise though that you do proper research on the information provided to you before publishing your story.”

TTFA board member Keith Look Loy said he strongly believes John-Williams is moulding Camara for the position of general secretary, although a contract extension for Latapy-George was endorsed at a recent annual general meeting.

Article 36 (f) of the TTFA constitution (Powers of the Board of Directors) says, "[The Board of Directors]: shall appoint or dismiss the General Secretary on the proposal of the President."

Look Loy said, "Maybe he is waiting for him (Latapy-George) to voluntarily depart because he can't force David on the board, where I have been calling for months for a discussion (on the status of the general secretary)."

Newsday tried to reach Concacaf senior projects manager Howard McIntosh, who visited TT a week ago, to shed some light on the issue.

Newsday sent McIntosh a message asking who Concacaf recognises as TTFA's general secretary, since FIFA's website indicates Camara is the general secretary and John-Williams denied knowing how it got there.

There was no response from McIntosh up to press time.

During his visit, McIntosh was quoted in one online publication, Wired868, saying "the (TTFA) board should always be informed… The communication must be improved," in relation to the complaints by the members of the TTFA's board of directors that they were initially bypassed by John-Williams and the high-ranking visiting contingent, effectively breaking protocol.
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Offline Deeks

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #298 on: February 05, 2019, 08:43:13 PM »
 :bs: >:( :( :cursing: ??? ::) :-[ :frustrated: :'( :pissedoff: :worried: :banginghead: :loser: :notlistening: :shameonyou: :timeout: :violin: :whistling:

Offline Flex

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Re: TTFA News Thread.
« Reply #299 on: February 06, 2019, 01:43:26 AM »
Latapy-George keen on new TTFA contract.
By Andrew Gioannetti (Newsday).


As FIFA corrects error on website…

JUSTIN Latapy-George, the out-of-contract general secretary of the TT Football Association (TTFA), continues to receive his pay and perform practically all the functions outlined in his last contract, which expired in November.

Newsday contacted Latapy-George yesterday, after FIFA, the world football governing body, posted on its website that Camara David was the TTFA general secretary.

On Monday, that information was present on the TTFA's "Association Information" page on FIFA.com, but both the position and Camara's name were removed when Newsday visited the website yesterday.

Camara's name listed as general secretary added to the confusion created when TTFA president David John-Williams and Camara were present at a FIFA Forward workshop in Barbados recently. The FIFA Forward workshop was specifically targeted to the presidents and general secretaries of the regional association. The TTFA board members and Latapy-George said they were unaware of the workshop. TTFA board member Keith Look Loy said John-Williams' actions were disrespectful to the board and Latapy-George.

Yet, after all that has transpired, Latapy-George said yesterday he remains keen to sign another contract with the TTFA.

"I mean, obviously, as someone who is in the capacity and doing the job, I remain interested in the job. What decisions are made there (regarding the status of the general secretary) relies on the president and his consideration as to what he thinks he wants to do within the organisation," Latapy-George said.

Asked directly about the impression that David is being moulded for the position, Latapy-George said, "We saw articles suggesting that...it's been noted on FIFA's website, (and) that he has attended some related meetings, under the allegation he was general secretary, I cannot speak on any of those things in any meaningful way.

"I can only speak directly to the fact that as far as I'm concerned and as far as I can see at this very moment, I continue to operate as the general secretary. I have not been told anything different from the president or the board of the TTFA, who ultimately make the decision on the president's recommendation, whether I am continuing in this particular capacity or not."

Latapy-George said he spoke with John-Williams twice about his tenure.

"Once, prior to my contract ending in November, in which he asked me to stay on – which is where I am as we speak – and then on January 2 when he articulated a position. But I would prefer not to speak to that because he will be better placed to have those discussions based on his plan," he said.

Fortunately, unlike several coaches, their technical staff and the technical director attached to the association, Latapy-George continues to receive pay.

He said, "The assumption of me not being paid is incorrect. All terms and conditions with the exception of the question mark being my tenure remain the same. As I said, save and except for when that tenure is – whether it is 10 years, two months, three months, a year, six years – I don't know. But I can speak for me, I continue to receive my remuneration."

Asked whether the TTFA boss should be more open about his activities related to the association, Latapy-George said, "I cannot speak for Mr David. I think that would be inappropriate of me to speak on his behalf. He has to speak for himself."

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

 

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