Govt to pay T&T coach.
By: Juhel Browne (Guardian).
Sports Minister Roger Boynes says the Government will pay the salary of T&T Warriors football coach, Dutch national Leo Beenhakker, but will not provide an open budget for the team’s preparation for World Cup 2006.
Boynes said while the Government was committed to providing whatever the team needed for its World Cup preparations, there was a limit to how much taxpayers’ money could be spent on this effort.
Boynes was responding to a call by T&T Football Federation special adviser Jack Warner, on Saturday, for the Government to provide an open budget for Beenhakker to finance the national football team’s World Cup preparations.
“No Cabinet in the history of the world will do that,†Boynes said in a telephone interview yesterday.
At a press conference on Saturday at Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain, Warner said it would take some US$15 million for the team to train adequately for the World Cup Finals in Germany.
A meeting, involving Sports Ministry officials, T&T Football Federation and sports consultants from the United States, is scheduled on Thursday to work out the exact needs of Beenhakker and the entire football squad.
Boynes said after that meeting, he would meet Beenhakker, who Warner said had agreed to sign on for the World Cup campaign, as the Government was yet to receive a proposal from the coach.
“The Government will be paying his salary. The country needs to know what the cost is. I need to find out what Mr Beenhakker wants, and I need to put it in a Cabinet minute and take it before the Cabinet,†Boynes said.
“I have to account to the people and the Parliament of T&T, so people know where the money went.â€
Nonetheless, when asked as to what Beenhakker would receive for staying on as the national coach, Boynes said: “The works.â€
Boynes said this would include housing, travel and other expenses.
When the football team returned to T&T on November 17, after defeating Bahrain to qualify for next year’s World Cup, there was speculation as to whether Beenhakker would continue as the coach.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning then said Beenhakker still had a job.
“We need him to assist us in the World Cup and also to assist us in the development of football in T&T, so that we have the best coaches to continually qualify for the World Cup,†Boynes said.
He said the Government did not want the Warriors’ qualification in the World Cup finals, scheduled to take place in June 9, 2006, to be a “one off situation.â€
Boynes said the Government was even willing to go as far as covering the cost of having the entire team in England, if necessary, to train for the World Cup, as many of its members play for teams in the United Kingdom.
“I understand the need to make sure that the team is properly trained. I think it is in that capacity that Mr Warner is asking for an open budget.
"The team may need to go to England. Mr Beenhakker may have to go to England,†Boynes said.
“We are working together with Leo, with Mr Warner, with the TTFF. It is a collective approach. The Government is on board 100 per cent that we have the best resources.†Boynes said the Cabinet wanted to work speedily on the issue.
Jack: Warriors need more money.
By: Kayode James (Express).
FIFA vice-president Jack Warner believes the national community needs to offer more financial support to the Soca Warriors on their way the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
"It's okay to line the streets and jam the airport, but that doesn't translate into dollars and cents, and what the team needs right now is dollars and cents," said Warner.
Warner said that although he and the team would "make out" regardless of the level of financial support: "If we continue to do this thing on the cheap, we will bring this country to disgrace."
Speaking at the T&TEC General Sports and Cultural Club Awards ceremony on Saturday evening, Warner said that the Soca Warriors would need US$15 million to take part in next year's World Cup.
The figure, he said, is a conservative estimate, and would still be the lowest budget of any team in the competition.
However, Warner said that only three corporations had contributed to the venture, and that the financial support from the general public was even less significant.
Warner said that he was grateful for the widespread praise and recognition that the Soca Warriors had received, but feels that the national community needs to step up to the ball and offer more financial aid to the team.
"This is not a Jack Warner affair. It's a national affair, so I'm asking that everyone put a hand," he said.
Warner also revealed that he was very concerned about the future of local football.
"I am very concerned about succession. I am very concerned about what happens after Jack Warner. I am concerned about those persons who aspire, but don't want to achieve. I am concerned about those who look at the form, but not at the substance," he said.
Warner also admitted that he worries about the succession within the national football team itself, pointing out aging players who would soon have to be replaced.
Warner emphasised the importance of having a team ready for World Cup 2010, since it would be the first World Cup tournament held on the African continent.
Warner said that he had "cried like a baby" with the national team in their locker room after their victory in Bahrain, and that he still cries in his private moments because he has yet to come to terms with the achievement.
He said that he does not need any award for his lifelong support of national sport, as the elation and gratitude of Trinbagonians was his reward.
"There's a type of unity that pervades the land that wasn't there before.
And hopefully we can use the power of sport to preserve this unity and return this country to its pristine state," said Warner.
"I look at how the nation was unified and I see the power of sport. I look through history and I see the power of sport," said Warner. "And when I came back to Trinidad and arrived at the airport, and I embraced Mr Manning and he embraced me I saw the power of sport," he said.
Open cheque on nationalism.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Subsequent to my remarks over the weekend about Coach Leo Beenhakker requiring an open cheque to ensure Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors perform well at the FIFA World Cup, several interpretations have been made. I cannot allow those who have misconstrued my comments to go unchallenged as much as I regret having to perpetuate this negative banter amidst the afterglow of national euphoria which is still among us following our team's qualification for the World Cup. Allow me to clarify what I said about the resources required by the Coach of our national team.
Rather than prescribing Mr. Leo Beenhakker a budget that might constrain his ability to achieve the level of success we all know he is capable of producing from the team, I said the Coach should be given an open cheque which would allow him to write our nation even further into the record books when we compete in the FIFA World Cup, 2006. He has already done the improbable by taking the smallest team ever to qualify for a World Cup and also with the smallest budget ever provided any team in the event's history. We cannot now expect him to do the impossible and ensure our nation makes an impressive showing if he isn't given every red cent to acquire all the resources necessary. I said then and repeat now, that Coach Beenhakker will get all that he asks for even if I have to borrow the money.
My comments were never meant to suggest that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago give Mr. Beenhakker an open cheque, I believe that he should be given what in his opinion is required for the team to perform best. And I stand by that statement of principle. Come next year when the entire nation and the world is watching the Soca Warriors we must never have faltered at our most glorious moment simply because funding fell short of a nation's goal.
Jack Warner
Chairman - LOC
