The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) is set for a $4.8 million (US$750,000) cash injection from FIFA after the international football body approved the unprecedented payment to its member associations at last week’s Congress in Sao Paulo.
The payment is believed to be due in two tranches and can ease the local football body’s financial woes but is still well short of its debts, which TTFA general secretary Sheldon Phillips estimated at $28 million.
Arguably, the most pressing creditors are 13 members of the 2006 World Cup team and former national coach Russell Latapy who, together, are owed roughly $4.9 million. None of the TTFA’s coaches, apart from the senior team employees, have received any remuneration since 2012 while former technical director Arnold Corneal and the present senior technical staff are still due significant sums.
The TTFA’s office staff has still not received any salary for May.
The local football body has actively pursued a financial bail-out from a Government Ministry for the past four months and is relatively confident of achieving it. Wired868 understands that the TTFA has pinned its hopes on the Ministry of National Security rather than Sport although neither party has confirmed this.
However, the TTFA signalled its intention to continue the business of local football today when it requested applications for the vacant position of technical director. Corneal resigned his post in April in frustration at the continual failure of the football body to meet its contractual obligations to him.
According to a press release, the main duties of Corneal’s successor include: leading and managing the TTFA’s technical department, supervising the preparation of national teams, developing a curriculum for coaches and designing a players’ development manual for national youth and women team programmes.
“The Technical Director will have a host of responsibilities and will spearhead all of our development programs with special emphasis on youth development,” said TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee. “We are committed towards meeting our goal of producing technically strong players from the youth level come up based on world’s best practice; and all our national teams operations from a technical standpoint is also a crucial area that will be focused on.
“And then of course there are other areas such as coaching education and the implementing of other related programmes.”
Interested parties are asked to apply on or before 30 June 2014 by emailing their full CV to ttff1908@yahoo.com or via a letter to General Secretary, TTFA Hasely Crawford Stadium Port of Spain, Trinidad, which should have “PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL” marked on the envelope.
The TTFA has assured would-be applicants that “information supplied will be treated in strict confidence and will only be used for the purpose of considering your employment application.”
Wired868 tried unsuccessfully to reach Phillips for comment on the football body’s financial woes and the stagnation of the national under-17 and under-20 squads.
The national under-20 squad was due to play its first 2015 New Zealand World Cup qualifier this month but does not even have a coaching staff in place yet while the under-17 team lacks the funds to start training.
However, TTFA press officer Shaun Fuentes explained that the under-20 team will not be in action until September since the TTFA has agreed to host one of the Caribbean groups for the latter stages of qualifying.
Former 2009 Under-20 World Cup coach Zoran Vranes, who has also led the “Soca Warriors” at senior and under-23 level, is believed to be on a shortlist for the available under-20 post.
Do you want to be the TTFA’s next technical director?
The TTFA’s technical director, according to the potential employer, must:
Design, plan and arrange curriculum and programme for the national licensing and certification of coaches;
Plan, develop and implement Specialized Football Workshops for coaches and players;
Develop and supervise the training and preparation of National Football Teams for regional and international competitions. This is in consultation with national coaches;
Plan, organise and implement development programs on a national (Trinidad & Tobago) basis for all youth grouping in keeping with the structure of FIFA age group football;
Prepare and submit quarterly reports on the preparation, training, performances of all national football teams;
Assess, prepare and submit quarterly reports on the performances of the coaching staff of all national teams;
Have all national coaches prepare and submit reports on matches played by the respective national team to the TTFA General Secretary within 14 days of the game;
Advise and make suggestions to the TTFA Executive on issues of a technical nature;
Complete curriculum design template for National Teams Coaching Development;
Establish a coaches’ data base and audit.
The TTFA’s technical director should build relationships with:
Peers (both locally and internationally), Coaches (both locally and internationally), Facilities Staff, TTFA Executive Officers and Players.
The TTFA’s technical director is responsible for:
Developing and presenting an annual budget proposal to the TTFA Executive for consideration and approval;
Monitoring and control expenditure within the approve budget.
The TTFA’s technical director should possess:
Analytical skills, Good communication skills (oral and written), Planning and Organization skills, Decision making skills, Change Management knowledge, Team working skills and Project Management knowledge.