Jack Warner, Fifa vice-president and special adviser to the TTFF, admitted yesterday that he had spent $24 million on preparing the Soca Warriors to reach where they are today.
“It cost money to prepare this team, the coaches and the players must be paid, there are expenses associated with preparing this team,” he said.
Warner described it as a big joke, the message displayed on the scoreboard at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday night—“The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, the Warriors’ biggest supporter.”
Warner said between November 2007 and now, the Government had not put a cent into preparing the national team. Instead, Warner and Sports Minister Gary Hunt had been at loggerheads over the use of the stadium for World Cup qualifiers.
This caused the TTFF to go before the High Court just days before the June 1 international friendly between the Soca Warriors and England. It was later agreed that the TTFF would pay $150,000 for the rental of the stadium for World Cup matches.
Warner added, “I don’t want the money, let them pay the coaches and the technical staff direct. It cost US 100,000 a month to pay the technical staff and their accommodation. Look at this, Lincoln Phillips (the TTFF technical director) has not been paid for the past five months.”
The T&T Guardian learnt that Phillips’ salary had been previously paid by the Sports Company of T&T, but Phillips had not been paid for the past five months.
Warner also promised that the members of the national team would be paid bonuses for this phase of the qualifying series.
The T&T Guardian broke this story in Monday’s edition after Warner announced in Guatemala that he was doubling the salaries of the players.
Warner spoke openly at the VIP lounge at the stadium on Wednesday night after the Soca Warriors whipped the US 2-1 in a World Cup semi-final encounter. Warner, the president of Concacaf, was even more pleased to know that it was Caribbean night—T&T beating the US 2-1; Cuba defeating Guatemala 2-1; and Jamaica whipping Honduras 1-0.
Warner still insists that the Soca Warriors would qualify for South Africa in 2010. “Right now, our feet are in the door, we still have Cuba on November 19, and then we begin our preparations for the final round next year. We are going to South Africa,” he promised.
The Fifa vice-president had faith in the Soca Warriors getting past the US. “The way the boys played in Guatemala was fantastic. They showed true grit and it did not surprise me with this result tonight.”
Warner hosted a number of dignitaries at the VIP lounge—President George Maxwell Richards and his wife, Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards; Speaker of the House Barry Sinanan, Leader of the Opposition Basdeo Panday, government ministers Donna Cox and Peter Taylor, Deputy Speaker Penelope Beckles and Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.