RAYMOND TIM KEE, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), plans to secure the services of coaches, for the various national teams, on a long-term basis.
The TTFA boss, during a recent interview, said, “What I do know is I have had some discussions with (coach Stephen) Hart, (director of football Leo) Beenhakker and (technical director Anton) Corneal, all with a view of putting in place coaches and technical staff for each segments of our game.
He continued, “It is hoped that those people who would be appointed would have some sort of security of tenure, in that we want to go into contracts. Not only that, we would no longer be having engagements of football when there is a tournament ahead.
“It’s a matter of all the teams from the Under-23s going right back down would be engaged in football throughout the year. So there is need for full-time coaches in the purer sense because, if we don’t have that, we’ll have to forget things like World Cup. That is being put in place and we’ll have some good coaches, many of who I suspect would be pleased with (this),” added Tim Kee, who also serves as Mayor of Port-of-Spain.
On the topic of funding for the game locally, Tim Kee stated, “The support has been overwhelming from the Ministry (of Sport) and the Sports Company and, of course, the Sports Minister (Anil Roberts) from whom instructions will come.
“There are times when there are little impediments and hiccups and some of them are very present in the Government service, in terms of how money is distributed,” he said. “Even when the Ministry can do something, it has to go through the Ministry of Finance for them to release the funds.
Sometimes you get the impression that they’re just some bureaucracies and the time takes too long, but if that’s how it is, that’s how it is. The only unfortunate thing though is you cannot forecast some of these things to put things in place properly.”
Earlier this year, Trinidad and Tobago narrowly missed qualification for the 2014 FIFA Women Under-20 World Cup in Canada.
Tim Kee was asked what plans are afoot for womens football this year.
“What you see here didn’t start yesterday,” he commented. “There was emphasis on womens football before. What has happened though is that there has been some more emphases on playing womens football and therefore we have done several things to pull them together and keep them together.
“Albeit, some of the (women) coaches have not been paid all their monies but that shows a kind of dedication,” said Tim Kee. “There is hope.
When I came into office a year ago, what I did was try to sell hope for successful futures. I have backed that up by the way I treat with them, the way I talk with them, the initiatives that we have taken and I guess they have latched on to that.
“There is a degree of confidence and optimism for the future. So what you see there now is nothing to do with more money but rather hope that when they do things, they’ll be recognised and rewarded for what they have done, so long as resources permit.”