Cooper recommended for TT women’s coaching job

SHAWN COOPER seems set to add to his current portfolios as coach of TT Super League team Queen’s Park and Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) defending Premier Division champions Presentation San Fernando.

On Sunday, Cooper was recommended by TT Football Association (TTFA) technical committee chairman Richard Quan Chan to the TTFA board to replace Anton Corneal as coach of the national women’s football team.

Corneal, the current TTFA technical director, was the interim coach during the recent CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers (final round group) in Kingston, Jamaica, with Cooper as his assistant.

And Cooper will be tasked with the role of guiding the team during the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in the United States, from October 4-17.

TT, United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Panama and Jamaica will be competing at the CONCACAF Championship, with three teams guaranteed automatic spots at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, with the fourth-placed team involved in a play-off with a South American nation.

Quan Chan, in an e-mail to the TTFA hierarchy, which was obtained by Newsday, wrote, “I am requesting your support and approval for the appointment of Mr Shawn Cooper as the coach of the (TT) team that is preparing to participate in the (US) in October.

“With the existing situation, inclusive of the time constraints and having also reviewed the resume of others that have expressed interest in the position – along with discussions with (Corneal) and the team manager (Jinelle James), I am recommending Mr Cooper as the person most suitable to coach the team at this time, and ask for your support and approval for Mr Cooper to the position.”

But outspoken TTFA board member and TT Super League president Keith Look Loy has questioned Quan Chan’s authority with regards to recommending a national team coach.

In a response to Quan Chan’s e-mail, Look Loy wrote, “I do not know what authority you rely on to recommend anyone to be a coach of any national (football) team.

“The meeting (on June 30) that appointed you to the post of chairman of the technical committee was illegal as it failed to achieve a quorum,” Look Loy mentioned. “I do not consent to an important decision such as the appointment of a national coach be taken by e-mail, and without the Board even knowing who the other applicants are, or what their resumes look like. That is ludicrous.”