While Trinidad and Tobago football legend Russell Latapy has no immediate plans to apply for the senior men’s national team head coach position, he did not dismiss the notion outright.
The former star midfielder, who is also an ex-coach of the national side, expressed his desire to “contribute” in whatever way he can.
Latapy was a special guest at Brian Lara’s book launch at the West Indies batting great’s home on Lady Chancellor Hill on Tuesday, where he received an autographed copy of the book titled Lara: The England Chronicles from the former West Indies skipper.
“I haven’t applied for the job. I think there is a lot happening with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) which changed hands from the Normalisation Committee, to the new president and I think the new president will need a bit of time to settle into the new job,” Latapy told the media on Tuesday.
Kieron Edwards was elected TTFA president in April and previous head coach Angus Eve was sacked in July.
Eve was appointed head coach in 2021 by the Normalisation Committee chaired by Robert Hadad.
The current caretaker coach of the national team is Derek King.
“I think it is documented all the difficulties the association and football in general is going through,” Latapy told the media.
He continued: “I’ve never turned my back on Trinidad and Tobago and football by extension so, really, if the opportunity arises that they think I can support in any way, I’ll be more than happy to do so.
“I’m home for now for the most part, and if my support is needed, I will be more than happy to contribute in whatever way I can.”
Meanwhile, Latapy will be on national duty in another capacity next month when he partners with Wayne Baptiste to represent this country in the Caribbean Golf Association (CGA) Four-Ball Championship that tees off at the Tobago Plantations golf course in Lowlands, Tobago from October 16-21.
Latapy and Baptiste, the current Golf Association president, were one of six two-member teams selected by the TTGA following a two-day trial event at the St Andrew’s golf course in Moka, Maraval, recently. And local football’s “Little Magician” said golf has become a new addiction for him. “Brian (Lara) and Dwight (Yorke) started playing golf maybe eight or ten years before me, and they would always invite me to play with them and I wasn’t interested in it at the time. But one day there was a tournament and I got involved in it and I fell in love with the sport and I was totally addicted and now I play as much as I can,” he explained.
“I think I am fortunate in the sense that I am able to spend 4-5 hours with my best friends playing golf and enjoying the company, so that’s one of the wonderful things for me. The other is that you are learning something new and it is a game that you are always improving on,” Latapy added. He described taking up golf as “a new challenge”.
“It is something to get better at and we have a really nice crew of golfers here and we have a lot of good times together. It keeps you focussed and my game is not in a bad place and I was fortunate enough that my partner and myself were able to qualify to represent Trinidad, so I am delighted about that,” Latapy said.
SOURCE: T&T Express