David John-Williams, the defeated Caribbean Football Union (CFU) presidential candidate last year, has said he is not interested in assuming the position of president in the wake Gordon Derrick’s six-year ban by the FIFA, the world governing body for football.
On Tuesday Derrick, who had prevailed over an ambitious John-Williams 18-13 in a tight race for the region’s top football spot, was banned from all football related activities for violating several articles of its code of ethics.
The case against Derrick focused on alleged conflicts of interest, offering and accepting gifts, mismanagement of funds, abuse of position and disloyalty.
Derrick however still maintains that he did nothing wrong. This latest development has led to speculation that John-Williams would have been the obvious choice for the position of president until someone if elected.
At present Randy Harris, president of the Barbados Football Association holds the CFU top job.
He took over recently from Grenada’s Cheney Joseph, the first vice president under Derrick, after being the automatic choice when Derrick was being investigated.
John Williams told Guardian Media Sports yesterday that, not only is he not interested in assuming the CFU presidency, but he is not in a position to do so, as the constitution is quite clear concerning the hierarchy in the organization. “The first vice president takes over in the event the president is unable to carry out his responsibilities.
And if not him, the second vice president. Joseph resigned soon after taking over from Derrick which led to fresh election, and that is where Harris was elected”.
The embattled TTFA president who was accused of pursuing regional gains and neglecting development of T&T football said “When I decided to contest the presidency of the CFU last year, I had a clear vision for the development of the sport in the region, but I did not get the support, but I still have a vision for the sport and the Caribbean, but just not at this point in time, as my plate is already filled with T&TFA business.”
According to John-Williams he is pleased of his administration’s achievements in the short time they have been put into office. “If you read our manifesto, you would realize we are close to achieving all our promises.
We have not been in office two years yet, but we have seen a home for football, annual accounts being given to FIFA and major financial returns from high profile international matches, fully operational Women’s Programme.” John Williams said.
He believes that in spite of the achievements to date, that his administration has still fallen short of public expectations, which he said is due largely because of football being the the country number one sport.