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Visiting Scottish club Dundee will hold negotiations with local club Joe Public with intentions of player exchanges and other pooling of resources.

As reported in the Scottish Courier newspaper, FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, also owner of Joe Public will meet with club officials Peter Marr and Jim Connor, both in Trinidad, to discuss the details.

If that leads to a formal association Dundee could get first refusal on any emerging talent from one of the West Indies’ best-known clubs.

Director Jim Connor stressed so far only tentative talks had taken place, though both parties have expressed and eagerness to get together.

"There would be merchandising opportunities because as we have seen over here replica shirts are popular with football fans."

"To be honest, one of the things that excited me when I heard this was in the pipeline was that what a tremendous contact Jack Warner would be for this club to have on our side."

The rest of the report in the Scottish paper was based on Venezuelan defender Jonay Hernandez being so close to hope.

"For defender Jonay Hernandez, Dundee’s Trinidad and Tobago trip is a case of so near yet so far.

The 4000-mile-plus journey to the Caribbean has left the Venezuelan-born full-back just a few miles from his birthplace.

Venezuela lies just six miles off the south-west tip of Trinidad, but although the Spanish passport holder has not been back for 10 years he won’t be heading home this week.

The Dark Blues’ hectic schedule before they return on Tuesday means finding time for a visit would be difficult, while domestic troubles rule it out completely.

Over the past few months, there has been widespread unrest as the Venezuelan people try to force the unpopular president Hugo Chavez to call elections and only last weekend a series of strikes brought the country to a standstill.
That’s left 23-year-old Hernandez saddened and worried about relatives who may be caught up in any strife.

"I left Venezuela for Tenerife when I was seven years old and I have only returned once for a holiday when I was 13. There were troubles when my parents left and many members of my family also left at that time," said the former Real Madrid reserve. Although I am now Spanish, I feel that I am a Venezuelan, too, and I do not like to see these problems."

Having spent most of his life in warmer climes, Hernandez has now had the problem adapting to the heat of Trinidad.

Happy as he is with his new life in Scotland, he admits to preferring the temperatures of around 30 degrees that welcomed the squad on their arrrival on Monday evening.
"Last week my parents came to Dundee for the first time. They thought the country was beautiful, but when they got off the plane they were amazed by the cold."

Hernandez went into the winter break suffering from a groin strain, but trained last night and should be fit for Friday’s friendly against Trinidad champions San Juan Jabloteh.

At a Press conference last night for Sunday’s game against a President’s XI, Prestige Holdings-the parent company of KFC and one of the trip’s sponsors- announced that to mark the 30th anniversary of their arrival in Trinidad entry to the game would be free.

Meanwhile although midfielder Georgi Nemsadze was not expected to be involved in either of the two games after only just recovering form a knee injury, he has been training normally and could take part in one of the outings."


Dundee pleased with facilities.
By Gregory Trujillo.

Footballers of Dundee, who arrived in Trinidad on Tuesday, are impressed with the training facilities here.

“The players are very happy with the training facilities,” said Tom Dutchie, the team’s press officer yesterday.

The Scottish club is in Trinidad on a one-week winter break, training and preparing for a two-match stint against:

T&T Pro League champion, CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh, tomorrow at Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, from 4 pm; and, the T&T President’s XI on Sunday at Hasely Crawford Stadium, from 6 pm.

“Everyone is injury-free,” Dutchie added.
“The only decision the coach has to make is whether or not he will play Georgi Nemsadze.”

Nemsadze, who was born in the Republic of Georgia, Russia, has been out since the last November when he sustained a knee injury against Livingston, a team for which Trinidadian defender Marvin “Dog” Andrews plays.

“This is the first week he has trained since the injury, so the coach will want to play him for part of the game,” said Dutchie.
Nemsadze is described as the “man with the dancing feet.” He is in his second half of caps for his country, which he proudly captains.

A fans’ favourite from the moment he scored a magical goal on his second friendly appearance against Grimsby in July last year, Nemsadze’s quality is evident every time he touches the ball.

Dundee, which occupies seventh spot in the 12-team Scottish Premier Division standings, has been training twice daily — on mornings at Larry Gomes Stadium and on afternoons at Hasely Crawford Stadium.

Phyllis Windsor, who has been the doctor at Dundee for the past 11 years, indicated it will take three to four days for the players on the 18-man squad to acclimatise to the conditions here, having come in from the cold in Scotland.
During Tuesday’s training session, Windsor said: “If they we were to play today they would be exhausted after 20 minutes in these conditions.”

Dundee will have a cheering section of about 100 supporters for Sunday’s match. They will be coming in from Barbados and the United States.