Past T&T women’s team head coach Randy Waldrum described the stepping down of Sepp Blatter on Tuesday as the best thing to happen for world football.
He made reference to the challenges he faced while at the helm of the women’s team in T&T, saying: “It is no surprise that the whole federation and country has been a little corrupt in terms of not putting funding where it needs to go. I think that’s kind of a trickle-down effect of the problems that we have in Fifa in general.”
Waldrum knew what he was getting into from his first run coaching T&T in 2008. Waldrum noted that during that period Jack Warner had still been heavily involved in football. However he expects the current TTFA organisation to find a way out of its struggles. “I think the current regime in Trinidad is certainly not corrupt now,” Waldrum said.
“They removed Jack Warner and they put a new group in, but because of the financial hole that Jack Warner put the country in, they’re dealing in about a $6 million deficit to run the federation. “Blatter’s stepping down might be a game-changer,” Waldrum said. “After we lost the bid for 2018 and the 2022 World Cup, I think Blatter has been long known as one of these men who, like he said in his acceptance speech, he forgives but he never forgets,” he said.
“I think a lot of people, especially in the circles in the US and Europe, felt like once you speak out, the chances and the likelihood of you getting a World Cup or major world event are slim. So I think this puts us back in the picture.”