United TTFA calls on John-Williams to step down

At a press con­fer­ence at the Har­vard Sports and Cul­tur­al Club in Port-of-Spain on Fri­day, Wal­lace, sup­port­ed by vice pres­i­dent can­di­dates Clynt Tay­lor, Sam Phillips and Su­san Joseph-War­rick, said he was mak­ing his call due to the many poor de­ci­sions by John-Williams which had sunk the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion in­to fur­ther debt.

Wal­lace said he al­so be­lieves John-Williams’ in­volve­ment in a Ven­tures Cred­it Union mat­ter was al­so a rea­son for him to re­sign as head of the em­bat­tled foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion.

“The Unit­ed TTFA is ask­ing David John-Williams to search deep for his own moral com­pass and do the de­cent and ho­n­ourable thing to step down and give foot­ball a chance to breathe,” Wal­lace said.

He ex­plained that John-Williams’ mis­steps had seen the as­so­ci­a­tion in­cur a debt of ap­prox­i­mate­ly $15 mil­lion in one week. He said his group was al­so cur­rent­ly in dis­cus­sion with an­oth­er com­pa­ny which had tak­en the TTFA to court to dis­cuss a pay­ment plan, say­ing judge­ment for that par­ty will come soon.

Wal­lace point­ed first­ly to for­mer tech­ni­cal di­rec­tor Kendall Walkes’ case, say­ing the FI­FA had ad­vised John-Williams and the TTFA to sit and rene­go­ti­ate with the Walkes for a new con­tract but John-Williams chose to go to court. He said for­mer na­tion­al coach Stephen Har was mean­while in­vit­ed to Grand Bazaar and fired al­though he rea­son­ably gave John-Williams an op­tion to just pay off his un­paid wages and for just one year of his three-year con­tract. Ac­cord­ing to Wal­lace, John-Williams al­so re­fused to ho­n­our a new agree­ment by the TTFA to pay tech­ni­cal di­rec­tor An­ton Corneal.

On­ly on Mon­day, John-Williams had basked in the glo­ry of open­ing the new Home of Foot­ball at Bal­main, Cou­va, which fea­tured vis­its by Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley and FI­FA pres­i­dent Gi­an­ni In­fan­ti­no. But Wal­lace said the day af­ter that open­ing, the TTFA was served with an­oth­er law­suit from a com­pa­ny that had pro­vid­ed steel for the foot­ball home.

Wal­lace al­so took a swipe at John-Williams’ in­volve­ment with a per­son­al loan from Ven­tures Cred­it Union, say­ing once the in­tegri­ty of a leader comes in­to ques­tion the or­gan­i­sa­tion al­so comes in­to ques­tion.

The Unit­ed TTFA boss al­so called on the elec­torate to vote in the in­ter­est of the sport amid ru­mours that mon­ey was be­ing paid to buy votes for to­mor­row.

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Petition for DJW to step down resurfaces.
By Narissa Fraser (Newsday).

AN online petition calling for TT Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams’ resignation has resurfaced.

The petition was created in June by David Rigsby in June on Change.org. It is titled: David John-Williams must step down as the TTFA president.

The description says, “The TTFA president has failed to develop and enhance the growth of TT football in his tenure. He has shown a lack of vision for the overall development of our football teams.”

It has got over 1,600 signatures thus far and a number of comments.

When it was initially created, former Strike Squad captain Clayton Morris was vocal about his support.

Some replies on the website included comments like, “The great decline in our football must end today. The dictator style must go, and real development must start immediately. The regime has made error after error, with no apology or transparency,” and “It’s time for change, invest in grassroots football system and have educated professionals to identify our talents.”

Others said, “This petition should be unnecessary. After the mess of the Gold Cup, he should tender his resignation,” and “An honourable man would resign.”

Within this week alone, the TTFA has lost two court cases. In a High Court ruling, on Tuesday, Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell ordered the TTFA to pay former senior men’s national coach Stephen Hart $5 million for wrongful dismissal and unpaid salaries and bonuses. And on Wednesday, former TT youth football team coach, men’s team assistant and TTFA technical director Anton Corneal was awarded $3,488,375, in an oral ruling by High Court judge Vasheist Kokaram.

In addition,co-operative development commissioner Andrea McKennan ruled, on Monday, that John-Williams should pay Venture Credit Union $23,540,269. It is still unclear whether this matter was TTFA-related. The union’s executive body cannot confirm or deny this, since other details of the judgment are considered confidential.

The credit union said it is willing to levy if it is not paid off.

John-Williams began his tenure in November 2015, replacing Raymond Tim Kee.

He will aim to retain the presidency in the TTFA’s elections on Sunday. Contesting him is Secondary Schools Football League president William Wallace and Terminix La Horquetta Rangers owner Richard Ferguson.

Newsday tried contacting John-Williams on several occasions about these matters, but all calls and messages went unanswered.

United TTFA wants John-Williams to step down.
By Narissa Fraser (Newsday)

AS the TT Football Association’s (TTFA) elections approaches, presidential candidate William Wallace claims members of his slate have been offered cash to vote for current TTFA head David John-Williams. As such, his slate – United TTFA – is now calling on the TTFA boss to step down as a presidential candidate.

At a media conference at the Harvard Sports Club, St James on Friday, Wallace said offers ranging from $10,000 and $50,000 have been made thus far.

“At the end of the day, we have confidence and we believe in the delegates. And we are hoping that football would be the winner and not a chance to pocket $10,000.

“Let’s say we have proof that persons were paying for votes, and let’s say that group gets into office – would I want to be part of something like that?

“If you started off by paying for votes, that tells me the direction you are going in. I don’t want to be part of that.”

He said if John-Williams remains president, its members would still be willing to be on the TTFA board. But he said the next four years would be tough if this occurs. “Of course, the focus would be on building back the game. That is our focus. Football is our focus.

“We are not about ourselves and looking for self-aggrandisement and what I did and leaving my legacy. I have no legacy, the legacy is football.”

The elections will be held on Sunday. In addition to John-Williams and Wallace, Terminix La Horquetta Rangers owner Richard Ferguson will also be vying for TTFA president.