Anton Corneal, a former T&T Football Association Technical Director and Anthony Sherwood, a former national midfielder now turn coach, are set to join the sport's world governing body FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee, a Board member of the T&TFA has revealed on Friday.
The two are expected to be the ones with sporting knowledge on a committee headed by businessman Robert Hadad, a director of the HADCO Group of Companies and former banker Nigel Romano and attorney Judy Daniel, who is the deputy chairman of the committee.
When contacted Corneal told Guardian Media Sports that he was unaware of this, but noted, if the FIFA or the normalisation committee believe he can be of any assistance, then he will be willing to serve.
When FIFA announced the names of the people on the normalisation committee on March 27, it said two others members were to be appointed jointly by the FIFA and the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). However, the appointments appeared to have been delayed by the legal wranglings between FIFA and the T&TFA, over the legitimacy of the normalisation committee appointment on March 11, and whether the matter could have been settled in the local courts in T&T, or the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland, where all FIFA disputes are settled.
FIFA in a release on March 11 said: "The Bureau of the FIFA Council has today decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the T&T Football Association (TTFA) in accordance with Art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes.
The decision follows the recent FIFA/Concacaf fact-finding mission to Trinidad and Tobago to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA. The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently."
The mandate of the normalisation committee is: To run the TTFA'S daily affairs; To establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; To review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress, and To organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.
Corneal, who was forced to take legal action against the TTFA for wages owed to him, could be a perfect fit for the appointment, another TTFA Board member believes, as he has worked with the FIFA for the past five years helping countries design their technical departments, with coaches' education and with their long-term development.
The Board member said Corneal, who works with the FIFA as a consultant, may easily be hired on the normalisation committee, instead of having him work as a consultant and still appoint him on the normalisation committee also.
Sherwood yesterday could not be reached as calls to his cell phone went unanswered.
Guardian Media Sports was told also that FIFA has been in search of two former players to be put into the positions.
In addition to Corneal and Sherwood, other names such as Densill Theobald, a former national midfielder who represented the country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and Bertille St Clair, an ex-national football coach, who has been battling with health issues, were also being considered, the board member said.
Guardian Media Sports also sought to contact Hadad for a comment, but calls to his phone went unanswered.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian