There has been no letter of complaints sent to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation nor the management staff of the National team regarding the late arrivals of some of this country’s overseas footballers back to their respective clubs.
Reports in the UK have stated that the likes of Dundee FC and Luton Town FC have all expressed dissatisfaction over the late return of Kelvin Jack and Carlos Edwards following after match celebrations here to mark T&T’s qualification for Germany.
Dundee’s Alan Kernaghan said he was not pleased that Jack did not arrive back in time for a 3-0 loss to Ross County on Saturday while Luton’s Paul Newell also kicked up a storm in the Press for Edwards’ late return.
Both men were reportedly earlier assured that they could return home with the rest of the team once they could get back to England in time for the weekend’s action. Jack however missed his connecting flight to Scotland on Saturday and has been reportedly fined by the club.
“We have not heard anything from the clubs and we only go with what the papers are saying,” team manager Bruce Aanensen told TTFF Media on Tuesday.
“Only Jason Scotland’s club and Ian Coxs’ Gillingham were the ones who definitely had a problem with the players coming home and as a result, they all returned out of Madrid. But now we’re hearing a different story from some of the clubs of the other players.”
Gillingham have also since given Cox and Brent Sancho difficult times since the win over Bahrain. Sancho was told that he had to miss the trip home but then found himself off the Gillingham squad on the weekend.
“These people didn’t even have the courtesy to acknowledge us but it’s not a problem because we know we are committed to both causes and our World Cup qualification achievement is second to none,” Sancho said. “They told me that I must return to the club and then said that I had to sit in the stands. That robbed me of a chance of experiencing the greatest reception for the team.”
Falkirk’s Russell Latapy, Dwight Yorke and Shaka Hislop didn’t take chances and returned to their clubs even though all of T&T felt they truly deserved the trip back home after helping T&T to such a remarkable achievement.