“Players have their own needs, and also family responsibilities to which they’re committed.” – Everald Cummings.
SACKED national football coach Everald “Gally” Cummings has described his dismissal as a vindictive act, designed, purposely to denude TnT’s Strike Squad players from the international acclaim they received under his charge.
Cummings, however, called on all citizens with the country’s football at heart to rally around the Strike Squad players so that no effective dismantling of the team would take place under Alvin Corneal’s stewardship.
“The real issue has nothing to do with my reluctance to put a proper training programme in place for the senior national squad.
“I was sacked because I sought the players’ interest at all times.
“As far as I’m concerned, top priority must always be given to the footballers.
“They’re the ones who through blood, sweat and tears give their best to cushion the demands which are always placed upon them.”
From what Cummings told Mirror, he was fired simply because he stood firm in his belief that players’ needs must be put in the correct perspective.
“If the controlling football body (TTFA) makes a million dollars from any games, then the people who competed to make such a take possible must share in the pie.
“Players have their own needs, and also family responsibilities to which they’re committed.
“But I’m under the impression that those Strike Squad players who brought so much glory to Trinidad and Tobago were only used as instruments to pay the TTRA’s bills.
Cummings said that he himself received just about $40,000 TTD over the two and a half years he served as the country’s national football coach.
“Even by the poorest Latin American standards this was a pauper’s pittance only to cover my personal expenses.
“The Strike Squad players fared no better than I did, as they received token handouts while competing in their World Cup qualifying matches.”
Cummings emphasised it was this same lack of concern for the players’ welfare which caused TnT its crucial World Cup qualifier against the United States last November.
“It’ll be first to admit that it was a communal decision by the team to remain in Fyzabad before playing against the United States.
“But all this was in keeping with a position in TTFA had taken as having no money to defray expenses.
“The TTFA had even turned down a request for comfortable buses instead of the maxi-taxis in which the team travelled.
“Had the impression given been otherwise, surely I would have made requests for the squad to overnight in Port of Spain before meeting the Americans.”
Cummings said the records are there to prove that under his stewardship and the guidance of members of his technical staff (who were also sacked) TnT’s football enjoyed a highly successful competitive period.
“At the international level we defeated some of the world’s best including extremely skillful teams from Europe and South America.
“But the entire team suffered from a tremendous amount of undermining which has finally surfaced publicly.”
Cummings added: “I’m a particularly disappointed man today.
“On the other hand I’m happy to have succeeded in bringing together the best national football team this country has ever seen.
“I believe the nation’s football future is solidly entrenched from the levels of attainment by the Strike Squad.
“The ball is now in the peoples’ court to ensure no systematic erosion of the senior national team takes place.”
Concerning his own role in TnT’s football after his sacking, Cummings said he’ll now revert to his coaching job at the Sports Ministry.
“It’ll continue my message in the nation’s schools with the younger children, and village communities where my services are required,” said Cummings, who broached the cliché “Kaisocer” in keeping with the rhythmic structure he had hoped to maintain before his dismissal as TnT’s national football coach.
Cummings has been replaced by Alvin Corneal, national soccer from 1979 to 1982.