WALTER ALIBEY
After just 35 days in the job, national football coach, Belgian Tom Saintfiet has resigned. His decision came after he said in a release that he did not get the support of the T&T Football Association and its president David John-Williams.
Local football pundits Alvin Corneal and Keith Look Loy, however said the blame for his resignation should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the TTFA, saying Saintfiet problem was that he took the job.
Saintfiet, who accepted a contract to take T&T to the FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018 with a clause that he faced being fired if he did not win the team's home matches against Panama and Mexico in March, faced mounting pressure by the country's failure to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, by losing both its matches in a CFU/CONCACAF play-off last week at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
In his first game the T&T went down 2-1 to Suriname and then 4-3 to Haiti in extra-time, as the host needed to win by two clear goals.
In addition to his defeats in the play-off, the Belgian was also criticised for poor performances in the two friendly international encounters against Nicaragua in that country on December (27th and 30th).
Yesterday, in a release he said "Given the mandate to guide the team past Panama and Mexico in the coming World Cup qualifiers in March 2017, I have come to the conclusion that I can't be successful in this environment.
From the first day of my unveiling, I did not get the support of the TTFA and its president; support which is needed to be able to do my job in a professional and successful way. I never got the chance to work with the players or staff requested."
He added, "Perhaps I should have taken that decision right from day one of my appointment, after the president openly second-guessed his own choice of employing me, but I gave him and the TTFA the benefit of the doubt."
Meanwhile, a release from the TTFA stated it had accepted the resignation of Saintfiet. But both Look Loy and Corneal have said Saintfiet is not the problem, but rather the TTFA. While admitting they both expected Saintfiet to fail, they lashed out at the TTFA for its poor selection of a coach who has had no experience and reputation at this level, as his resume shows.
According to Corneal: "They (TTFA) should have done a proper research than to recruit a man who knows absolutely nothing about our culture, the players and our football.
"He should have come here before to do his own assessment on what he was getting into."
Corneal, a former national footballer and coach lashed out at Saintfiet, saying the principle of him even accepting the job under such circumstances was a bit amateurish.
Corneal also questioned Saintfiet's comment that he did not get the support of the TTFA, saying as a professional he came here to do a job, that's all he needed.
Look Loy said the little-known Belgian coach had made his own bed to lay in, pointing to his acceptance of a job where the president said he was not the first choice. "Any self-respecting person would have resigned immediately."
Like Corneal, he believes Saintfiet took the job knowing what he was getting into, and later compounded it by some of his poor decisions, such as the removal of goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams.
Look Loy himself an ex-national player and coach, took a swipe at the TTFA, blaming it for poor administration and decision-making in dealing with the sacking of Stephen Hart and selection of Saintfiet.
He accused the TTFA of playing politics with the game, saying because of its poor administration it has been left with a situation of either chosing a local coach or searching for a top coach from abroad.