RAYMOND Tim Kee, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), stated on Tuesday that he had no choice but to fire Sheldon Phillips as the TTFA general secretary on October 19, after Phillips refused to hand in his resignation upon Tim Kee’s request.
“Sheldon Phillips was an excellent man in operations,” Tim Kee said. “I cannot fault his propensity for hard work and accessing information and networking.
“When certain things happened, I phoned (Phillips) and I had to invite him to resign. (He) had some time to think about it.
“When he did not respond,” Tim Kee continued. “I called him and he said he decided not to resign because that will mean an admission of guilt.
“So I had no choice (but to remove him).” However, Tim Kee countered, “if I have needs for an operations man in my organisation, strictly operations, Sheldon will be a good candidate.” As far as marketing of the TTFA and the national teams (male and female) are concerned, Tim Kee stated, “we had to do some re-branding, which we did. We now have a marketing company working fully with the TTFA.
We have started some income-generated initiatives.” He added, “we have gone as far as making purchasing of these items possible off our website, which will be launched on Friday.”
About his challengers (David John-Williams, Selby Browne, Ramesh Ramdhan and Clynt Taylor), Tim Kee questioned, “in your collective ages, any of you ever heard (TT) football had an elections and you had five candidates vying for the presidency?” He vowed that the TTFA president will not have more than two consecutive four-year terms, and that both the TTFA accounts and minutes of meetings will be available to the public via the group’s website.
Tim Kee noted that a new kit supplier, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is expected to replace Spanish sports clothing manufacturer Joma.
And, he also revealed that plans are afoot to make Trinidad the home of football in the Caribbean, as well as establish a base for national teams in Union Park, Marabella.
“It’s a matter of getting approval from the head of Lands and Surveys for a plot of land, that comprises of acres of land,” said Tim Kee.
We’ll be putting two international- sized pitches and other pitches for children, and it will be a mixture of natural grass and artificial turf.
“That facility will house players and can be even used as a summer camp for teams who want to come in for the tropical weather,” he continued. “That is advanced where it has been approved by the (Sports) Ministry.
It’s just a matter of the final approval.”