Technical Director of T&T’s football, Lincoln “Tiger” Phillips has a vision that in the next 10 years, all T&T football teams will be qualifying for FIFA and other international competitions if his development programme is accomplished.
“My vision is to see that all T&T teams qualify for FIFA and other international competitions by 2014, starting from 2006,” said the man regarded as the best goalkeeper the country has ever produced.
“In order to accomplish that, we must have a Sports Academy where the players live, eat well, train, get a proper education, good conditioning and proper medical attention among other things. That must happen.”
Phillips feels very confident that once the Football Federation can produce a structure for the development of coaches and players, the government of T&T, the corporate sector and the people of T&T will support.
“I have a player development programme for coaches, which is a licenced course, that is expected to come on stream early next year. It is a very ambitious one. Once we do have it, and once we are properly structured, I feel very confident they (the government and corporate T&T) will come on board. Of course, we have to have money to do that.”
Phillips, born July 4, 1941, said that for many years he had been dying for the opportunity to be head coach of T&T national team.
“But for many reasons, I was nominated and still looked over. I have to say maybe the good Lord was telling me that wasn’t my time. If I had accepted the job, I would have failed for sure. Our failure has never been because of technical or coaching deficiencies, it’s always been administrative.
“There has never been a structure put in place. So, therefore there was no direction. Coaches were hired and fired. There was no development programme and every 10 or 15 years a good crop of players would come out. We looked like we would do well but through many administrative blotches we failed.”
Phillips pointed out that when it came to the big times “something” got in the way, preventing the boys from peak performances at the right time.
He claimed that after the “Strike Squad” in 1989, he wrote many articles on how and why we lost.
“I wrote many criticial articles on the ‘Road to Korea’ and about what we needed to do but we didn’t. So now that this time came around I had a meeting with Jack Warner and he convinced me to come back.
Phillips added that he met with Warner in his office in New York and was told by the FIFA vice-president that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Jack pointed out that is was not about him, Lincoln Phillips, Alvin Corneal, Bertille St Clair, but about T&T.
“There was a sincerity in his eyes and I felt that he recongised that the only way we could do it was as a team.
“I still feel so up to this day because there is an old quotation that coming together is a beginning, working together is progress and staying together is success. The process is taking a little while but slowly building into a nice team.”
Phillips said he remembered Warner asking where best he could contribute.
“I told him as Technical Director.
“The coach’s job is to get us to the World Cup. Mine, as Technical Director, is to look at the game internationally see where our teams are technically and tactically, decide where we are and then set up a structure to ensure that all deficiencies are eliminated.
“Initiating a coaching development programme, a player development programme and getting involved in all the other areas that affect the game of football — officiating, sports medicine, physical fitness, sports psychology, nutrition among other things.
“Although it is not under my jurisdiction, the Technical Director still needs to utilise his experience in getting some of the programmes started.
“Normally, technical directors are responsible for all national teams but when I came in St Clair was already coach and as such the World Cup was like a separate entity.
“St Clair reports to T&TFF not me. My job with the World Cup team is purely in an advisory capacity.
“I talk with Bertille. I do reports on each game and Bertille gets those copies — ones that are technically analysed where strengths and weaknesses lie.”
Phillips noted that early in the campaign, he reported that T&T was being scored on frequently from corners and free kicks and that St Clair corrected it.
He also indicated that there were other problems which “we were able to identify and correct during practice.”
Phillips believes that the team’s main problem is lack of three top-notch quality world-class players, especially in the midfield.
“The problem is we just don’t have them so we have to take what we have and open the door to new faces hence the Digicel Cup where all the top local guys got a chance to step up. I believe we will get four of five players from that group.
“People say that the local guys are not getting a chance. That is not true. If a player goes abroad and he does not make the grade, while he may be good enough technically, he may not have the discipline to undergo the rigors of pro football.
‘The best thing that could happen,” Phillips said, “ is to have a “B” or second team practicing and playing in tournaments like the Digicel Cup and constantly involved in other international tournaments.
“In that way, there will be players who are getting involved in good competition and eventually the cream will rise to the top if they want it bad enough. We must create the opportunity for them.”
“We have a lot of problems in developing a team that has started two years late and success will not happen overnight,” he continued.
Phillips said T&T must recognise that we have been successful in qualifying which is the only thing that counts at this time.
“The coaching staff, the players, and the people must also recognise that we did not play well and that if we are to be competitive in the next round we must improve our game significantly.
“We have to look at it as a new season and there’s no room for the faint of heart at all — administrators, coaching staff and players and even the spectators.
“Everybody has to get on a positive kick. We have to want the team to win, rather than be overly critical. That’s a culture that we must eliminate if we are to move on.”
Phillips also said that it is important to understand that we also have youth development teams — Under-17 and Under-20 — which performed creditably against Cuba.
“These are teams for the future and it is very important that these players stay together.”