Look Loy: ‘John-Williams created a mess’

NARISSA FRASER

"ALL of our national teams are failing – male, female, whatever the age group. Nobody is qualifying for anything. We are in the worst state in the history of our football."

This is the view of TT Football Association (TTFA) board member Keith Look Loy on the state of local football. He says the demise of the teams has a lot to do with TTFA president David John-Williams and his administration.

United TTFA, a group of football stakeholders who are aiming to unseat John-Williams in the forthcoming TTFA elections scheduled for November 24, issued a press release yesterday to express their disappointment in recent performances by the local teams. The group consists of Look Loy, Anthony Harford, Joseph Sam Phillip, Clynt Taylor, William Wallace and Susan Warrick.

On Monday, the national women's team finished third in their Caribbean Olympic qualifying group, and failed to advance to the Concacaf round. And, on Thursday night, the TT men's team suffered a 2-0 defeat against Honduras in a Concacaf Nations League match.

The release said, "United TTFA sees the immediate ill fortune of these two national teams as emblematic of the ongoing collapse of TTFA's national teams programme under the David John-Williams administration. Since coming to power in 2015, the David John-Williams has presided over the alarming destruction of Trindad and Tobago's once unrivalled domination of Caribbean football, and the loss of its hard won status as a member of Concacaf's elite."

It continued, "United TTFA rejects the standard excuses being offered by the TTFA president and national team coaches in defence of their dismal record. Failure is now being camouflaged by talk of 'development'."

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Look Loy said John-Williams has created a "mess" since he began his tenure in 2015.

"The public is seeing and feeling the pain. Our programmes have collapsed – the evidence is there and nobody who is honest and interested in the future of our football can deny it. We getting beaten in the Caribbean, which we supposed to dominate. The finances of the TTFA are in a mess. I, as a board member, have to resort to the High Court to get information from the president..."

In July, several respected former TT footballers, including World Cup goalkeepers Kelvin Jack and Shaka Hislop, and former women’s team captain Maylee Attin-Johnson called for John-Williams' resignation.

Look Loy said John-Williams continues to "boast" about the construction of the Home of Football in Couva to which a US$2.5 million grant was given, but it is yet to be completed.

"The TTFA's debt is somewhere between $40 million and $50 million. All he is talking about is the Home of Football and bringing foreigners to talk about how nice it is and it is still incomplete. We don't know when it's going to be complete.

He continued, "We have no sponsors. David John-Williams came into office in 2015, did a big fat manifesto about what he is going to do, how many sponsors he would bring in and so on. He has not brought in one sponsor. He has fulfilled not one promise from his election campaign."

The 38-paged manifesto included plans such as improving the image of the TTFA by enhancing credibility through transparency, incorporating leading football nationals in assisting local bodies with the creation of a football council, and fostering a professional approach to football in TT, among other things.

Look Loy says he still believes there is hope for football in TT. He said once John-Williams is voted out in November, progress can begin.

"There is hope on the horizon. TT's footballers are no less talented than any other country in the world. It's what we do with it, it's how we organise it, it's how we train it and prepare it. We gonna win that election."

He is urging the public not to expect results and changes overnight as the group will be trying to clean up "over four years' worth of mess".

"The TTFA has no plan for anything, any area of its work, and we have to go in there and begin to rectify it. It will take time, investment and patience but it will be done."