A decision by new president David John-Williams to allow the board of directors to sit on the matter of the payments of match fees to players for the Guatemala and USA World Cup Qualifiers may have been responsible for the players’ strike.
At least so said national team manager Williams Wallace yesterday.
The players, through a statement from their captain Kenwyne Jones last week, threatened to withdraw their services for the Copa America play-off with Haiti in Panama City in January if outstanding monies are not paid. But Wallace said yesterday that he has been keeping the players abreast of the situation, claiming they agreed initially that the association could not pay for the friendly encounter with Nicaragua at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, on October 13, but would have paid them for the Guatemala and USA matches, which they agreed to.
The players were to be paid from gate receipts from the USA/T&T match at the stadium, which according to former president of the football association Raymond Tim Kee, was expected to generate approximately $2 million. But to date football association officials are still attempting to collect monies from the ticket outlets, some three weeks after.
Other setbacks include the delivery of a post-dated cheque by a well-known ticket outlet which has confused the association, as well as changes in the signatories at the T&TFA which resulted from the change in administration.
Wallace said this information was communicated to the players. He said when told that the board of directors would have to sit on the issue before payments could be made, the players decided to take action. “They see it as a deliberate attempt to delay the payment,” Wallace said. In the past the involvement of the board of directors on payment of match fees was a no-no.”
The board is expected to meet on Wednesday to address this issue following which cheques will be sent to the players’ accounts. Wallace has given the players the assurance that the monies will be paid and added that he is optimistic that a resolution will be met after the board meeting. He also sought to clear the air on payments owed to the players, saying no monies were owed to the players for the Concacaf Gold Cup but rather for the USA and Guatemala matches.
In a release last week, John-Williams gave the assurance that his association was committed to paying the players. However he expressed concern at the way things were done by the previous administration and questioned why monies from ticket outlets had not yet been collected.
John-Williams said he knew that a promised was made to pay the players on November 19 by the association but that was before he took office. The Guardian later tried to contact John-Williams about the involvement of the board of directors in the payments but calls to his cell phone went unanswered.
Meanwhile national coach Stephen Hart, who had to whisk back home to Canada due to an emergency, said yesterday that he has been in touch with the players about the issue but made it clear he could not tell the players what to do. He said further that the players did not want him involved. Asked if he had been paid, Hart said no.
“I have spoken with John-Williams about my payment and other matters and by Wednesday I will know more about it,” Hart said. It is understood that none of the staff has been paid.
In an earlier report, former president Raymond Tim Kee said a gentleman’s agreement was made with the players to be paid from the November 17 game against the USA. He said this was normal.
He said when he took office, he met that system. “Because of our debt, we could not offer the players signed contracts since there was no guarantee of payments afterwards, and therefore that could have led to lawsuits,” Tim Kee explained.
WALTER ALIBEY