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Thu, Mar

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While Minister of Sport Anil Roberts said he had disbursed nearly $1 million to Anthony Harford for the payment of fees to former Trinidad and Tobago senior squad staff, former manager David Muhammad has claimed he and his staff are still owed the money.

Several calls to Harford's cell phone yesterday to get a response on the matter went unanswered, and his mailbox was said to be full. Calls to TTFF general secretary Richard Groden's cellphone were also unanswered, and messages left were not immediately returned.

In a letter to both Roberts and Harford on Thursday, Muhammad, writing on behalf of 11 members of staff of the Trinidad and Tobago national senior men's football team, whose contracts came to an end in January 2011, said he is still awaiting payment.

Roberts told reporters at an October 17 press conference that Harford needed to explain why the manager and other staff have not been paid despite Harford receiving $992,900 from the Ministry of Sport for that purpose and why was $158,000 spent on interest charges.

In the letter, Muhammad, who managed the national squad over a period of 76 games from 2007 to January 2011, said that over the last few weeks "we (he and the members of staff) have quietly observed the unfolding of the situation between you (Roberts and Harford) both with a mix of bewilderment and curiosity."

Muhammad said after a year (2011) of not being given any updates, Groden summoned him to a meeting in January 2012 to finalize and confirm figures owed to Muhammad and his staff to the amount of $993,000.

"And we were told these payments would be forthcoming within a few weeks," the radio host said.

Muhammad stated that while he was in Antigua from March 6-9, he was informed that Harford had collected a cheque for the outstanding payment for the senior team staff and that the payments would follow subsequently.

"On reaching Mr. Harford, he explained that he did collect a cheque. However, he had to use it for the Under-17, Under-20 and U-23 teams. We did not make a fuss about this as we all support football, and were assured by Mr. Harford that he would see about our matter. We were startled, however, when we heard Mr. Roberts in the Parliament state that Mr. Harford used a figure of $936,250 to pay himself," Muhammad said.

"We all expected Mr. Harford to immediately vehemently deny this allegation, but instead he called a press conference and explained that these were actually his company's fees that he charged the TTFF. As a result of this, myself and members of my former staff felt painful disappointment in Mr. Harford, as we saw this as misappropriating monies that were given to him to pay us but instead he used a similar amount to pay himself," Muhammad said.

Muhammad added that he and the members of staff felt they should break their silence at this point "especially as a lot of public sympathy seemed to be aroused for a situation where all of the facts are not known, and once again on behalf of my former staff we table our concerns and inquiries regarding monies owed to us."

"We also collectively express our disappointment in Mr. Harford's handling of this matter, and feel somewhat of a sense of betrayal by such," he concluded.

Contacted by phone, Muhammad said that he was hopeful that after the TTFF elections on November 11, the culture of the how football is managed would change.