Sacked General Secretary of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) Sheldon Phillips could be back in his job either before or after the coming TTFA annual general meeting (AGM) and Election of Officers on November 29.
Phillips’ letter quoted: “After careful review of the TTFA constitution and consultation with legal representatives from both FIFA and CONCACAF as well as reading the sentiments raised by TTFA board of directors vice presidents, I formally object to the actions of Mr Tim Kee and respectfully request the TTFA Board of Directors officially address the constitutional breach of authority committed by Mr Tim Kee at the earliest practicable opportunity.”
The reason given for Phillips’ dismissal in a letter sent from the TTFA on October 20 was that he failed to follow directives. That letter also stated that the TTFA boss later asked Phillips to resign but he did not, following which Tim Kee took the decision to fire him.
However Phillips in his letter, claimed that Tim Kee took the decison to fire him after a newspaper report misquoted him by saying that he (Tim Kee) was not only going back up for elections but had gotten the support of his executives, which turned out to be far from the truth. Phillips also made it clear in his letter that the embattled president still dismissed him from his job although the report was corrected through a retraction in the newspapers.
It is understood that a meeting of the board of directors was held on Friday and Tim Kee admitted that he had made a blunder in the way Phillips was treated. According to the new constitution of the TTFA: “The President can propose the dismissal or recruitment of the general secretary.”
However reliable sources told Guardian that Tim Kee raised a number of issues, apart from what was explained in his dismissal letter on October 20, why he thinks Phillips should be relieved of his job. He has since been ordered by the board which includes TTFA vice presidents—Lennox Watson, Krishnar Kuarsingh and Rudolph Thomas; Central Football Association (CFA) president Bryan Layne, Eastern FA president Wayne Cunningham, Northern FA president Roland Forde, Tobago FA president Raymond Alleyne, president of the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFA) Trevor Dyer, Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) president Anthony Creed and Boni Bishop of the Referees Association to put together all his reasons why he feels Phillips should be dismissed for the board’s consideration soon.
This meeting it is understood will take place this week and some of the options the board will have at its disposal will be to either re-instate Phillips; terminate his services; send the matter to the Ministry of Labour for a decision or pay Phillips him off for his services. Only recently vice president Kuarsingh wrote to Tim Kee telling him that his decision to terminate the services of Phillips was unconstitutional and needed the approval from the board before the general secretary could have been sacked.