Pro League hopefuls, Central F.C. introduced their prospective Head Coach, former Arsenal and England midfielder, Graham Rix to the club staff at their Monday morning training session at Presentation College, Chaguanas.
The newly formed team, led by Managing Director, Brent Sancho, invited players to train with them over a week ago in preparation for their anticipated participation in the 2012/13 season.
Rix, who was assistant coach to Ruud Guillet and Gianluca Vialli at Chelsea took a look at the players in training and the facilities available. He then had a brief talk with the players before meeting with the club staff.
“It was great to finally get onto the training pitch” said Sancho. “It’s taken 8 weeks of stress to get to this stage, but seeing the guys out there going through their paces was worth it”
The Sharks met with the Pro League Board, and CEO, Dexter Skeene on Tuesday as the final stage in the clubs application to join the professional league this season.
“We’ve provided all of the required information including a comprehensive marketing plan. Obviously, the league has to perform its due diligence, but we are confident that we meet their criteria” said Sancho.
Assistant coaches Kevin Jeffrey and Anthony Sherwood have been taking charge of the training sessions.
Jeffrey said “We are 4 weeks behind in preparation and for the next few days, the emphasis is on fitness and letting the players get comfortable with each other.”
Sherwood added “We will be reducing the numbers down and Graham will be assisting us in the selection process. We’ve been lucky as most of this group are professionals who have maintained their fitness. We just need to get some sharpness into them over the next week so they’ll be ready for the Head Coach to develop his team tactics”
The Sharks are hoping to confirm a partnership with Presentation College which will see the club using the school as their training facility “The Principal has been very supportive and the partnership will bring benefits for both parties” said Sancho.
Central F.C. will now be focusing on their off the field activities. “Now we have players in training, Brent and I can concentrate on our marketing plan and community projects” said Operations Director, Kevin Harrison. “We will be meeting with several organisations who are interested in working with Central F.C.
However, we also want to work with smaller companies in the Central Region who are interested in supporting projects in their community. We have an exciting anti crime programme that we will soon be launching and we hope the business community will give it their support”
Sancho said “It’s fantastic to have Graham Rix here to assist us. Obviously, until our Pro League membership is confirmed, we can’t offer any contracts. However, we are hopeful that Graham will like what he sees and will agree to join us once we’re a Pro League club.
I met Graham at Dundee and was really impressed with his coaching style. Graham won all kinds of trophies as a player and a coach and it’s a true testament of his standing in the game that after his 6 month prison sentence in 1999, he could resume his career at Chelsea. His experience with the Glenn Hoddle academy in Spain will really assist this club in identifying talent.”
Jeffrey added “As a coach, one of the exciting elements for him about working in T&T is to work with some of the young players and introducing them to clubs overseas. But we also intend to tap into Graham’s knowledge to help develop our coaching staff.
Personally, I know my coaching skills will improve tremendously. We really want to be known as a club that can develop talent and give players the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”
“Central FC has a policy of inclusiveness” said Harrison “We firmly believe in concepts such as restorative justice, and admire programmes being developed by people such as Wayne Chance. We’re now looking forward to achieving Pro League status so we can accelerate our community projects and play a few practice matches.”
Anyone wishing to contact the club can email them at kh.centralfc@gmail.com