TTFA announces series of technical appointments
TTFA MediaFollowing a meeting of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association Board of Directors at the FA’s headquarters in Couva on Wednesday evening, the TTFA is pleased to announce a series of appointments that were confirmed for its various national teams and technical department.
Other appointments for the Men’s Senior Team under head coach Terry Fenwick and Assistant coach Derek King are as follows –Kelvin Jack – Assistant Coach/Goalkeeper Coach
Oswin Birchwood – Trainer/Physio
Michael Williams – Equipment Manager
Captain Basil Thompson – Team Manager
Men’s Under 20 TeamDerek King – Head Coach
Angus Eve – Assistant Coach
Stern John – Assistant Coach
Ross Russell – Goalkeeper Coach
Trey Hart – Trainer
Aaron Pollard – Team Manager
Men’s Under 17 TeamWesley Webb – Team Manager
(Other positions to be filled)
Boys Under 15 TeamKeith Jeffrey – Head Coach
Clayton Morris – Assistant Coach
Wayne Sheppard – Assistant Coach
Jefferson George – Goalkeeper Coach
Dexter Demas – Team Manager
Women’s Under 17Nadia James – Manager
Richard Hood – Head Coach (previously announced)
Women’s Under 15Jason Spence – Head Coach
Dernelle Mascall – Assistant Coach
Joel Warrick – Assistant Coach
Trevor Nottingham – Goalkeeper Coach
Simone Edwards – Team Manager
National Teams Director – Richard Piper
Women’s Football Director – Jinelle James
Club Licensing and Compliance Director – Norris Ferguson
Head of Goalkeeping – Kelvin Jack
Technical Director – Dion La Foucade
TTFA President William Wallace expressed satisfaction with the process that preceded the various appointments.“It was a very long process. It was a very democratic process. The Technical Committee would have brought forward their recommendations to the board and the board is now deciding whether we go with those recommendations or not,” Wallace told TTFA Media during a break in the meeting on Wednesday night.
“Generally everyone sitting in that room is more or less involved in that process. Their concern of course is for us to do better on the field of play so at the end of the day when we leave that room I hope we will have the best persons on board to be able to take us forward in terms of our football.”
“There have been appointments formalised so far. It’s a matter of re-organising, For instance earlier today I met with one of the assistant coaches of the men’s senior team. He understood clearly that as a new coach coming in that this coach will want to bring persons in who he is comfortable working with. We sat and had a very good conversation. Of course he has a contract and we have to be able to work that out going forward.
“In some other instances there are also some contractual arrangements with persons at the lower levels. Those too will have to be dealt with going forward. But in many of the cases were able to retain some of those persons and based on the plans we have going forward in terms of our technical approach where we want to have the zones involved we are hoping we can absorb some of those persons there,” Wallace continued.
Keith Look Loy, chairman of the TTFA’s Technical Committee echoed similar sentiments and expanded on the developments.“We are in the middle of getting it done. We have approved an entire technical staff for the men’s senior team and some of our men and women youth teams. We have approved a Director for each of the national teams department, we have approved a director for the women’s teams department which is Jinelle James, Richard Piper for the men’s national teams department and Norris Ferguson as club licensing director as well as Dion La Foucade as the Technical Director.
“Well we have always said on coming into office that we are not on a witch-hunt… that it is not a natural cause of action that some who served under the David John Williams administration would not find a place under the umbrella of the new administration. So we have kept Stern John as one of the assistant coaches of the Men’s Under 20 team along with Angus Eve to head coach Derek King, and Wesley Webb as the manager of the Men’s Under 17 team. As I said, we are looking at each person on an individual basis trying to properly judge their merits and what they can contribute to the programs and we are making decisions on that basis,” Look Loy stated.
Short-Term Contracts“The decision of the board which is a wise one and it is a proposal of the technical committee is that we give short-term contracts. What I mean by that is we give people a contract for the period of preparations to the end of their tournaments. For example, the under 15 boys and girls team play in August… the contract for the staff is until the end of August. The Women under 20 and 17 teams play in February and March respectively and the contracts are to the end of those tournaments. Then at the end we sit with the staffs, we sit as a committee, we sit as a board and we assess and make decisions. Do we go forward with this staff or with this coach or do we replace anyone at all ? That’s the way we will proceed. If we do look to renew people then we will usefully discuss renewing them for a full cycle which in terms of youth football is two years.
Project 2026“Project 2026 was unanimously approved. The idea here is to give a level of international experience to the young men who were in the last Under 20 team. They are now going to be 21 and the current under 20 team, they are now 19.. so an age band of 19 to 21-year olds and heading into 2026 to form from that core group a new national team. The year 2026 is going to be the first 48-team FIFA World Cup in Canada, USA and Mexico, Concacaf is going to have six places and we think it judicious to begin preparing a hard core now. We want to groom them. They have weigh stations along the way. We have the CAC Games of 2021 the 2022 Pan American Games, we have the Olympic Games to come beyond 2024.
“When we blood them like this yes in 2026 we may have the outstanding 18-year-old, we may have the outstanding 32-year-old but the core of that 2026 World Cup team is going to be those boys who are now 19 to 21-years old. We are going to form a team under that age band. We are going to put them under the supervision under Terry Fenwick and his senior men’s national team staff and we are going to go forward with that.
Kelvin Jack appointed head of goalkeeping“Kelvin Jack is going to be returning these shore and he is going to be performing a three-fold role. He is going to be an assistant coach in the men’s senior team, he holds a UEFA B license. He is going to be the goalkeeper coach, he holds a UEFA A goalkeeping license. And he is also going to be head of goalkeeping. We are going to introduce a goalkeeping programme that deals with goalkeeping, goalkeeper coaching and goalkeeper coach instruction from grassroots level right up to the tip of the triangle which is the senior men’s team,” Look Loy explained.
International Friendlies to be finalised for March window“We have had several offers from Asian, Europe and from South and Central America. We are looking at the quality of the opponents and quite frankly we are also looking at the match fees that we can get because the TTFA needs to make money and the senior men’s national team is the flagship and it could generate finance for the TTFA. It can pay for the player fees and so on. We do not want to duplicate the experience of players past administrations where they played, match fees were paid and the players were not paid. We want to be careful with that and ensure that the first persons to be paid from match fees are players and staff.
“We are close to finalising a couple matches. These are going to be respectable opponents. We have to do well against them and then in the third window then look for higher level opponents that will bring a bigger match fee. The second window of course is dedicated to the CONCACAF 2021 Gold Cup playoffs,” Look Loy said.
WATCH: TTFA President William Wallace on latest technical appointments
https://www.youtube.com/v/D_mVOwxH8eAWATCH: Chairman of the TTFA Technical Committee Keith Look Loy on latest technical appointments
https://www.youtube.com/v/ZSy6ATtlx84