“The most important signing of the season” is how Central F.C. Managing Director, Brent Sancho described the club’s new Director of Women’s Football & Youth Development, George Romano.
“Bringing George back to Trinidad is a sign of Central F.C.’s commitment to both women’s football and our youth development programme” said the former T&T defender.
Romano, himself a former Trinidad & Tobago international, has spent the last 3 decades building an impressive reputation in U.S.A. After representing T&T at both Under 17 and senior level, Romano spent two years with professional outfit New York Apollos in the American Soccer League.
Upon retirement from football as a player, Romano threw himself into coaching and, over more than 20 years, built an impressive reputation in the world of U.S. soccer. A United States Soccer Federation & National Soccer Coaches Association of America licensed certified coach, Romano progressed through various football programmes to become State Coach for the New Jersey State Youth Soccer Association and Olympic Development Programme, as well as taking a high school soccer team to the Pennsylvania state finals.
“I heard that George was looking to return to Trinidad and, knowing his reputation, I contacted him to help develop our woman’s and youth programme.” said Sancho. “I know that George has received several offers, but we managed to convince him to join Central.”
Romano will initially be working alongside Head Coach, Terry Fenwick and Youth Development Manager, Kevin Jeffrey to fine tune the Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 teams who will start their campaign in March. Meanwhile, Romano will begin to assess the Central F.C. woman’s team – the Lady Sharks – who gained promotion in their first season to the WoLF premier league.
“We’re continuing with our theme of bringing home talented Trinibagoanians who have spent time overseas and who can bring their knowledge back to Trinidad & Tobago to enhance professional football.’ said Sancho. “Whether it be players, coaches or administrators, our nation has produced a wealth of talent in all areas of football and we feel it’s time to tap into that resource to help build the Central F.C. brand and, by extension, the TT Pro League brand.”
Romano said “I admire the vision of Brent Sancho and Central F.C. and their determination to bring T&T nationals back to their homeland to add their skills to help develop T&T football.” The former right back added “I’m confident that I can contribute much to help achieve the clubs aims in the long run. I’m looking forward to working with Terry Fenwick and Kevin Jeffrey to further enhance the youth programmes.” Romano said that getting to grips with the women’s team will be exciting, especially after seeing decent performances by the women’s national teams. “It’s clear that there is a wave of talented young ladies coming through the ranks and I’m ready to take up the challenge of creating a Central F.C. women’s team that will win trophies.”
Romano said that one of his proudest achievements has been seeing girls that he coached such as Heather O’Riley and Yael Overbach reach the U.S. national team. “I’m now focused on bringing girls through the Central F.C. programme to represent T&T, hopefully in a world cup finals” said Romano.
Meanwhile, The Sharks chalked up their 5th draw in a row after equalising with a 90th minute penalty against North East Stars on Friday night. The California based club have now extended their unbeaten run to 6 games ahead of a local derby clash against league leaders, W.Connection on Tuesday at Ato Boldon Stadium.
“We’re still not creating enough goal scoring chances” said Sancho “But we’re a very hard team to beat and we have a resilience that won’t allow teams to sit back on a one goal lead.” Central F.C. vs W.Connection 8pm Tuesday 11th February, Ato Boldon Stadium.