#INCASEYOUMISSEDIT with Mariah Ramharack
Power is the ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. Transparency in governance focuses on honesty and openness. Question; is it that when one gets power it clouds their ability to be transparent?
If power doesn’t cloud the ability to be transparent, then has the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) been creating a culture where the two are diametrically opposed?
Recently, based on the way events have unfolded within the TTFA, I am led to believe that power clouds transparency.
On Sunday, November 24th 2019, then President of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), William Wallace defeated incumbent David John-Williams to become the new TTFA boss, at the Home of Football in Couva. It took two rounds of voting, but in the end, Wallace received 26 votes to John-Williams’ 20.
The election result marked the end of a stormy tenure for John-Williams, who was often accused by his detractors of leading an authoritarian administration that lacked transparency.
Upon becoming TTFA President, Wallace gave the SportsMax Zone his word to keep in contact and ensure that the public was updated on the affairs of the TTFA.
According to him, this was of utmost importance because he did not want to lead in the manner for which he turned ouster of John-Williams.
But then, every good story has a twist.
On March 17th, a mere four months after Wallace occupies office, FIFA appoints a normalization committee to run the TTFA. Questions were immediately raised. Was FIFA being unfair? Even I felt there was not enough time given to the newly elected administration to prove themselves.
Recently I’ve had to rethink my position with the surfacing of two contracts signed by the Wallace administration. The two contracts have provoked numerous questions. Questions that are yet to be answered.
The first discrepancy is with the contract afforded to T&T’s Men’s National Senior Team Head Coach Terry Fenwick by the TTFA.
Based on the findings of a SportsMax Zone investigation, the contract Fenwick signed was not the one agreed upon by the Board members. The same Wallace, who described the former head of the administration of being a dictator, went ahead with a contract that was not agreed upon by the board. Is this a case of power clouding transparency?
After constant requests from the SportsMax Zone for Wallace to clear the air, he eventually came to the forefront explaining it was simply an “error”. An error that is a legally binding document for the TTFA five months later?
A debt-riddled organization making errors where money is concerned?
Would the error have been rectified if it was not exposed?
Wallace’s reason for the additional sum added to the contract is that Fenwick sourced private sponsorship. Why include a private sponsor in an official TTFA contract? What if the sponsor falls through? And who is this sponsor? What are they getting from Fenwick or the TTFA in return?
TT Pro League Board representative Brent Sancho provided this comment on the matter, “Football has been in the doldrums for the last 20/25 years. Corruption, lack of transparency, governance issues, and greed has been the order of the day and this latest instalment by the Wallace regime is a continuation of this disease that has infected the growth of the sport. These men have put yet another nail in the coffin of our aspiring young footballers.”
Wallace has said the clerical error is being rectified, meaning Fenwick’s salary will not be affected. But there are losers with this latest faux pas taking centre stage. Football will lose. The sport suffers, the footballers suffer and the reputation of Trinidad and Tobago suffers.
Then, as if one error wasn’t enough, the Avec Sport contract surfaces and again the views of the board seem to have been disregarded.
The terms of the contract, worth approximately TT$25 million, are that the TTFA will receive a “Gifted Pro Kit Allowance” from Avec but are to buy a minimum of 7500 replica shirts in each contract year for four years.
According to the terms of the contract, the TTFA’s sponsors will spend half a million pounds with Avec Sport. If this figure isn’t met over the course of the four years, the TTFA will pay for all the kits provided over the period. This deal is also alleged not to have had the backing or approval of the board.
This information about the manner in which the TTFA is conducting business forces me to re-think my feelings on the issue of FIFA’s normalization committee running the affairs of the TTFA. I am led to believe that power has a way of clouding transparency and if not, it definitely has a history of doing so at the TTFA.
Reggae Boy Brown was allowed to leave Bengaluru FC to seek more playing time
Bengaluru FC coach Naushad Moosa insists the club parted ways with Jamaica international Deshorn Brown in order to allow the player to search for more playing time.
The 30-year-old forward recently completed a move to top-flight Indian team NorthEast United, away from Bengaluru, who he joined last year on a one-and-a-half-year deal. Brown scored three goals in 17 appearances and increasingly found first-team football hard to come by.
Moosa replaced outgoing coach Carles Cuadrat, as the club looks to begin a rebuilding process, that has seen the former B-team coach step up as head coach.
"When you talk about Brown, as a club we want to help the player. Now if you see Ajay (Chhetri), he is getting playing opportunities with East Bengal. Brown was not getting enough playing time (at Bengaluru). So, for his development, we should allow him to go and play [elsewhere]. We thought we should help him get more playing time," Moosa said.
Brown will be looking to regain his goalscoring form with the Highlanders who will be without Kwesi Appiah who is set to miss the rest of the season with an injury. The Jamaican has previously played for the likes of DC United and Colorado Rapids. It is hoped will be able to link up with Idrissa Sylla and Luis Machado.
Brown has played 14 games for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz since making his debut in 2013.
Nagelsmann compares football and NFL as Leipzig coach's heart beats for Packers
RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann said football and the NFL can learn from each other as he revealed his admiration for the Green Bay Packers.
Nagelsmann – one of Europe's finest tacticians – said he is a fan of American football after hailing the "extraordinary" discipline of the league's players.
As Aaron Rodgers and the Packers prepare to face Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, Leipzig boss Nagelsmann insisted the two sports can learn from each other.
"Our general manager Timmo Hardung is a huge Green Bay Packers fan, so that's rubbed off on me a bit," Nagelsmann told reporters ahead of Leipzig's match against Union Berlin on Wednesday.
"My heart beats for them a bit, their history is very interesting and different to most of the other clubs in the NFL."
Nagelsmann added: "It's a very interesting sport. And I think we can learn a lot from American football in soccer, and our players can learn a lot from it as well. Especially in terms of their discipline in studying and executing the team's playbook. I definitely think that's an area that soccer can improve on.
"The game is based on an unbelievable number of plays, and the players have to understand a lot of specific terms and then act accordingly out on the field. They have to do all that extremely quickly, which is extraordinary."
"You could see in the games that there were one or two tricks – I'd like to see a bit more of that. 'Hitch and Pitch' I think it's called. That worked quite well in the play-offs a couple of times," he continued.
"So American Football can learn from football, but definitely vice versa too. And if any NFL coaches would like to have a chat about it all, feel free to get in touch!"
Leipzig – Champions League semi-finalists last season – are third and four points adrift of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after 16 matches in 2020-21.
Madrid's Jovic absolutely world class, says Eintracht boss Hutter
Eintracht Frankfurt head coach Adi Hutter hailed the "greatness" of Luka Jovic following his stunning start to life back in the Bundesliga.
Jovic scored two goals in his return for Eintracht last week after re-joining the German club on loan until the end of the season, having endured a difficult period at LaLiga champions Real Madrid.
The Serbia international only scored twice in 32 appearances under Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane in the Spanish capital, where he arrived for €60million in 2019.
But Jovic came off the bench and scored twice in 28 minutes as Eintracht defeated Schalke 3-1 in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Jovic matched his Madrid tally in the stunning cameo for Eintracht, where the 23-year-old netted 27 goals in 2018-19 before making the move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Previewing Wednesday's showdown with Freiburg, Hutter discussed Jovic and his partnership with Eintracht star Andre Silva.
"Strikers are always a bit egotistical, but when it is about the team or Eintracht Frankfurt, everyone puts their ego aside," Hutter told reporters.
"Luka [Jovic] does that sovereignly. When you bring back someone who had his best time here and scored 27 goals in a year, then gets loaned out and scores two goals in 32 games, and then comes back and scores two goals in about 25 minutes, it's logical that the attention is more on that than on Andre Silva's 12th goal of the season.
"But when you hear Luka's statements that it is an honour for him to play in a team with Andre, it shows the greatness and character of Luka and it shows the respect he has for Andre Silva. I have spoken to Andre before and he said that competition is very important for him and that quality in the team is important. That doesn't bother him at all.
"I also can't imagine that Andre Silva, who has previously played for Milan and Sevilla, can't handle competition. I think he has also seen that Luka is another striker with whom he can harmonise.
"As always, I'm keeping a low profile. He [Luka Jovic] has shown in this short season that he is an absolute world-class striker with a high calibre. We'll leave it open as to whether he'll play from the start [against Freiburg]."
Silva's goal to open the scoring against Schalke was his 12th of the season, taking him level with Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland – only Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski (21) has more in 2020-21.
Eintracht – eighth in the standings – are the only team to win all three of their Bundesliga games in 2021 and have now won four on the bounce in the league for the first time since early 2019.
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