"William Wallace was merely attempting to honour a request by Englishman Peter Miller to keep his contract private," a source of the T&T Football Association told Guardian Media Sports on Wednesday, as news broke in the media after he said he had allegedly lied about the Peter Miller contract which involved the T&T Football Association (TTFA).
This latest development came less than 24 hours after a report stated that Wallace who was removed from office with his three vice presidents by FIFA on March 17, was accused of signing three contracts without TTFA Board approval.
On Wednesday, he acknowledged that he was not truthful about a US$20,000 contract which he had signed with Miller without TTFA Board approval.
The source said that Miller has been a lifeline of the embattled football association, being the main source of sponsors for the debt-riddled organisation. Neither Wallace nor any of his vice presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip, could have been reached for comment but the source who is close to the latest developments over the past two days, revealed in an interview to Guardian Media Sports that Wallace was obligated to honour a code of confidentiality because the football association had been strapped for cash, with a $50-million debt hanging over its head and no programmes to show how payment was going to take place.
The source said, "Peter Miller was shaken by the Nike deal which was announced by Wallace back on November 2, 2019, at the Launch of the United TTFA election slate. He was mentally drained by it and when we won the election he said he would continue to work on the Mike deal, so now he wanted to know if we could have engaged him officially with the TTFA. He wanted that assurance, noting that he has come across all type of unscrupulous people and therefore he wanted something signed."
"Wallace told him he could not sign it as it would have been difficult to take it to the TTFA Board of Directors. Peter then told him that for the programme he was going to embark upon, he wanted something to show, so that he can be paid. This programme included the Lavendar deal. But based on the fact that we did not have any money so Wallace said if you get a million dollars and I have to give you half a million dollars, then I would have half-a-million more than I had," the source explained.
According to the source, "Wallace said I will sign it because we have no money and I don't know where the next sponsor is coming from, so I will sign it to ease your mind. Peter said ok, but just keep it secret."
Wallace on Tuesday broke his silence on the senior men's national football coach Terry Fenwick contract which had a salary difference of US$2,500 from what the TTFA Board approved. The Board had approved US$17, 500 but the contract was signed for US$20,000. Wallace had said it was an error. He was also accused of signing a two-year contract for General Secretary Ramesh Ramdhan, after the Board and agreed to hire him for one year.
Meanwhile, Taylor and Anthony Harford, have come out in defence of their leader Wallace who was being compared to David John-Williams, the previous president of the football association for his decision to sign the contracts of Fenwick, Ramdhan and the now controversial Avec Sports deal without the approval of the board and with no communication to the membership.
Harford, the Northern Football Association (NFA) president who is also a founding member of the United TTFA said he became concerned with the series of allegations that he (Wallace) signed contracts outside the boardroom on behalf of the TTFA.
He noted: "It was therefore easy for me to agree to a decision to issue a statement. I gave my unequivocal support to the idea. It was completely my fault to think I would be able to read and comment before the release went out. Further, I thought we all understood the release from United TTFA of which I am a founding member, would be one of concern initially and not condemnation."
According to Harford: " Like with many other stakeholders, I am deeply concerned and hope that William Wallace will initially inform United TTFA of all the agreements he has reached outside the TTFA Boardroom. I thought it wrong for the statement to locate Mr Wallace in the same place as his predecessors, who had full terms to display their moral poisons. They also had ambiguous relationships with the truth and lacked the substance and ideas to head a billion-dollar industry."
Taylor, on the other hand, said, "We the vice presidents felt that if the president is making a decision he should communicate with us. It's not that we have a problem with the decision, but we felt that we campaigned on having this open and transparent form of governance, and we felt that even if he wanted to go in a different direction, no problem, but have a conversation with us. Don't let us find out in the media."