Watson: Tim Kee bad for football but...
Lennox Watson, first vice president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), has said that local football will go back as far as 25 years, if current president Raymond Tim Kee is re-elected at the annual general meeting (AGM) and election of officers on November 29.
In an interview following the sacking of general secretary Sheldon Phillips yesterday, Watson promised to check the constitution of the football association to determine if Tim Kee had the power to fire the general secretary like that. Watson highlighted a number of reasons why he felt Tim Kee was bad for local football, such as his decision to isolate the members of his executives soon after assuming office, Watson said.
“I can tell you as first vice president of the football association who handed over the office to Tim Kee in 2012 and the first thing he did was to write to the world governing body for football FIFA to paint his members in a negative light,” Watson said.
Another thing, Watson explained, was that the president has not been giving his executives financial statements, neither does he hold executive meetings.
When quizzed on whether he was one of the executive members who was considering tendering his resignation, Watson said, “No, I will not resign, but I will definitely not be going back up for re-election because I do not want to be a part of any executive under Tim Kee.
“Tim Kee calls special meetings and most of the times these meetings are not finished. I think he has made a mess of football.”
Tim Kee is expected to be challenged by W Connection boss David John-Williams and now former T&T referee, who officiated at the 1998 World Cup in France, Ramesh Ramdhan, for the post of president, come November 29.
In spite of the criticisms levelled against the local football boss, it is understood that he has been credited for a marked improvement in the game when a comparison is made between the game in 2012 and before, to how it is now. And strangely the one heaping the praises on Tim Kee and the TTFA for this progress was the man who was sacked on Tuesday. Phillips had said that anyone watching local football from 2012 would admit that football now is in a better place.
Tim Kee told the Guardian yesterday he has had to stand firm on decisions designed for the betterment of the country in the face of challenges by executive members who are bent on doing things the way it was done for years before. And among these include key changes in the constitution of the TTFA, which FIFA described as “the worst constitution ever and one which was designed to keep certain people in power”.
Tim Kee, who wants to continue the job that he started three years ago, said even though the members were advised to change the constitution, they still didn’t want to do it and it was only because they were pressured by a top ranking member of the FIFA, who dealt specifically with constitutions, that they then approved it.
Tim Kee is calling on the public to judge him and the TTFA by the product, which in this case is the progress of football in T&T. His aim has been to return corporate T&T to the sport which has been tarnished by negative reports of alleged financial mismanagement.
“Good marketing will tell you that corporate T&T has lost all confidence and trust in the TTFA and therefore for us to win back this trust we need to do things differently and this is where the breakdown is among just a few key members in the association,” Tim Kee said.
The embattled football president is adamant to ensure corporate T&T and the public that there is accountability and transparency in local football for the first time.
Tim Kee went on to explain that his decision to fire general secretary Sheldon Phillips was not personal but because he went against the association policy.
“I can tell you that Phillips was an excellent worker who was always dependable. You can count on him at anytime, but he just made too many missteps,” Tim Kee said.