Raymond Tim Kee, a former president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), has officially announced his intention to contest the post of president at the TTFA election in November and he said if he wins, all national team football matches will be removed from the Home of Football in Couva, back to the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain.
At a press conference at the Raymond Tim Kee building on Scottbush Street in Port-of-Spain on Friday, Tim Kee, who was replaced as head of the football association back in 2015, also sought to clear the air on allegations of nepotism for appointing his son to do major graphics work for the TTFA during a period of renaming and rebranding.
He said the association faced major challenges of getting people to do the work and he was directed to his son Kareem Tim Kee, who was a competent graphics designer.
The senior Tim Kee said he felt compelled to clear the air on these allegations after a squeaky clean career in finance and business during which time his character and integrity were never questioned.
"Of my 40-plus years in corporate T&T, I have worked feverishly at building a character full of integrity, honesty and with one view of gaining respect with the people of which I deal," said Tim Kee, who added that the Home of Football project was his brainchild. Then, he had secured a parcel of land at Marabella but approval from Lands and Surveyors under the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, took long to come through and he was voted out.
However, the concept and layout were accepted by the FIFA, which later approved monies from the FIFA Gold Project to fund it.
David John-Williams' decision to construct the Home of Football in Balmain was seen as a replica of this idea, but Tim Kee said it lacked purpose.
"Mr man (John-Williams) come now and start this Home of Football in a place where any first-year student in business will say it's foolishness because it doesn't make sense, the location. When you talking about commerce and commercial activity, you look at price, place and transportation. Where it is located, the structure seems to be a nice one, but what is the purpose? The purpose is to generate revenue," said Tim Kee.
"Those of you who went down there, what has been your experience. In the first place, football is a grassroots sport and there is no foot traffic. In addition, the football offices in all the football territories are in the city.
"My forecast is that it will be a white elephant."
If he is returned to office, Tim Kee said he will definitely take all national teams' football matches back to the Hasely Crawford Stadium where there is easy access. However, he will find a way to utilise the Home of Football structure.
"Money has already been expended so I will use it to the best of my ability but not with the view of generating any kind of income. That is far-fetched."
Tim Kee also accused John-Williams of being dishonest by telling the public that his administration inherited $40 million in debt, saying he left a debt of $14 million when he exited office.
"When I came in I met a debt of $38 million and 28 creditors, I reduced it to 27 creditors and $14 million. Of that $38 million I paid off the SocaWarriors which had TTFA in court for their bonus," said Tim Kee, who also indicated that his administration also submitted audited statements to FIFA.