Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings, a former national football coach for the famous ‘Strike Squad’ has called on those who made the appointment of new coach Tom Saintfiet to resign if the coach does not succeed in taking T&T to the FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018.
Yesterday Cummings and another former national coach Keith Look Loy described the appointment of the coach as a joke, as they believe the the best man for the job was not appointed, based on the record of the Belgian.
The technical committee of the TTFA made recommendations based on the applications before them, after which the Board of the TTFA made a decision based on the recommendations. However the process appeared to have been limited by financial constraints.
Saintfiet, 43, became the preferred choice after the first choice Phillippe Troussier was said to be too costly and the other two options - Eduardo Lara of Ecuador and Colombia’s Luis Fernando Suarez cannot speak english.
According to Cummings, “When you look at the track record of the coach, we can see he is not good enough.” He lashed out at the TTFA, saying they are making decisions for the entire country and should be held accountable. “They seem to be making a mockery of the country and it hurts me and other coaches who have worked hard to develop the sport and take the country to a standard.”
Cummings also criticised the mentality of local officials who believe that international coaches are always better than the locals. “I think what the country really needs now is someone who knows and understands the culture of the T&T players and can get the best from them.
He also took a swipe at the short-term clause that allows the Belgian coach to be fired if he does not win the next two matches at home against Panama and Honduras in March.
Meanwhile, Look Loy, questioned the logic in appointing a coach with a poor record, saying “I thought when you’re looking to recruit a coach, the first thing you look for is how good is his resume.
His personality and other characteristics can be looked at afterwards, but your track record is the first thing you look for, and this guy does not have that.”
He noted that he finds it very astonishing the president would make a comment as the coach was affordable.
Look Loy who has coached successfully at the national youth level in the past, said it would have been better for the TTFA to have left sacked coach Stephen Hart in the job and had given him all the tools he needed.
“I hope for their sake that the coach does well, but personally I doubt it” Look Loy said.
TTFA TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Dexter Skeene - Chairman
Jinelle James
Dr Alvin Henderson
Muhammad Isa
Bertille St Clair
Errol Lovell