General secretary of the T&T Football Association Ramesh Ramdhan has called on Robert Hadad, chairman of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee to fire him if he wants to, promising he will not only take legal action against the normalisation committee but intends to write to the FIFA, the sport's governing body about non-payments of salaries to him alone.
Relations between the two men, though working in the interest of football in T&T, have been rocky, due to Ramdhan's alleged involvement with the ousted United T&TFA which comprises president William Wallace, and vice presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip.
"I have written to Hadad, but no response. He wrote to me and asked me for a response within seven days but he got it in five. I still have not gotten an acknowledgement of my response. And I wrote him a legal letter giving him seven days to respond and seven days have gone and he still has not responded, so yes I may have to write FIFA and let FIFA know of the situation because he is the one who tells me he doesn't do anything without FIFA. And based on what I am seeing here on the FIFA website, I am still the general secretary, so then if he is treating me so, or he wants to fire me, it will be without the approval of the FIFA."
Ramdhan said that the office staff was paid their salaries last week, while he has not been paid for the last six months. He told Guardian Media Sports yesterday that the action of the Normalisation Committee headed Hadad is unfair, uncouth and dispassionate.
"I am the head of the secretariat, I am a staff member and you paid everybody else in the office. I understand Shaun Fuentes was paid eventually, but I remain unpaid, without any explanation. I cannot sit here anymore and be abused by Hadad and be treated unequally."
He said, "At least I have been working. I have been communicating with him, I have been sending stuff to him, I have never stopped working. I have sent other stuff to him to act upon and he has never acted. He keeps on saying soon. Soon is in some instances, three months or two months."
Ramdhan, a former T&T and FIFA World Cup referee believes Hadad's bias stems from his close relationship with former TTFA president David John-Williams. He said, "I know he's been taking advice from John-Williams because he said that. He said he speaks to David and David did some things wrong but the Wallace administration could be accused of the same thing. So, therefore, clearly, he is trying to put blame on the William Wallace-led administration, while having no issue with all the things that were highlighted that John-Williams did, including the financial dealings, despite him not paying NIS, Health Surcharge and PAYE."
Attempts to reach Hadad via phone call and WhatsApp for a response to Ramdhan's claims have been unsuccessful.
Guardian Media Sports reported on Friday that Ramdhan was not paid due to an issue with his contract being a two-year deal that was not approved by the Board of Directors of the T&TFA. The Board of Directors had approved a one-year contract for Ramdhan in January.
Wallace, who issued a release in June said he signed the contracts of Ramdhan, national coach Terry Fenwick and marketing representative Peter Miller, all of which were not approved by the board. He also stated that he exercised the power entrusted to him by the TTFA constitution when he gave Ramdhan a two-year contract.
Ramdhan has accused Hadad of putting personal information about his contract, and all the other contracts into the public domain.
Ramdhan told Guardian Media Sports that, "Only he (Ramdhan) and Hadad had copies of his contract."
He concluded by saying he came into football administration to effect change, but the recent development with him not being paid without a reason, has caused him to take a stance against vindictiveness and injustice.