The legal contest between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and the 2006 “Soca Warriors” was officially declared at an end yesterday by TTFF president Raymond Tim Kee.
But the matter of Germany 2006 World Cup revenue still being unaccounted for in the wake of the players’ maiden World Cup campaign may not be over.
In fact, there could be legal repercussions for embattled former Minister of National Security Jack Warner--also an ex-Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and CONCACAF president--who was last month accused by a CONCACAF committee of mismanaging funds.
During yesterday’s press conference at the Hasely Crawford Stadium’s VIP Lounge to announce the TTFF’s settlement with the players—the sum of which is still undisclosed, both parties said, due to players’ security concerns—Tim Kee hinted that there might be legal action taken by the Federation depending on what ongoing CONCACAF investigations find.
“From our understanding, TTFF is very much a part of CONCACAF, and in pursuit of (CONCACAF’s) uncovering and investigating all the goings-on in the past, Trinidad and Tobago has not been exempted from that,” Tim Kee said yesterday during the event. “I believe that that arm will be extended to the TTFF, where the forensics and all the investigations will be done. That is a big one that my mouth is not quite capable of biting and chewing. That’s bigger than me.
“The investigations will reveal something, and based on that, we’ll have to take appropriate actions.”
Tim Kee said when he was chosen to head the TTFF last year, he “dreamed of the day and time” when he would be able to help settle the players’ matter. To him the issue was a “vexatious” one over the last seven years, and he feels now that the matter is settled, T&T football can move on to a “glorious future”.
“This journey for me is not about dollars and cents. It is about the future of our football,” Tim Kee said. “This journey for me is about trust and loyalty. It is about commitment and accountability. At the end of today the road we have travelled must speak for how well we care for and love our football players, our entertainers.”
Then, after explaining that promising talks were held with FIFA president Sepp Blatter in March, and with CONCACAF head Jeffrey Webb in terms of assisting the debt-ridden Federation, Tim Kee said Webb brought to his attention unclaimed funds associated with T&T’s failed World Cup 2014 campaign, including TV rights. Immediately, he added, he earmarked the funds to clear the debt to the players.
The TTFF president invited T&T’s former footballers to “come back home” and contribute to the national game, before taking the time to say sorry.
Said Tim Kee: “I want to sincerely apologise, most sincerely apologise for the pain which you (the players) have had to endure over those years. I want to ask you to come and join the pleasure which together we can bring as we take Trinidad football once again into the glorious days and into that new global era.”
Tim Kee also promised the Federation’s “120-something” creditors that the TTFF is actively seeking to become sustainably self-sufficient, and will pay off its debts.
“(These are) debts that are mind-boggling because some are small and some not so small. But things have to be paid off. And I can promise you that we are not going to enjoy one cup of soda before we (settle) our debts with the people who had entrusted their service and their own investment, their own money in supporting us in the past.”