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Stephen Hart is out.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) officially sacked its National Senior Football Team head coach this evening, after a meeting at fast food restaurant, Ruby Tuesdays, in Valsayn.
A TTFA release said that president David John-Williams wishes Hart “every success in his future endeavours.” John-Williams vowed to announce a new coach “in the shortest possible time.”
(Courtesy Wired868)
No information was provided on the fate of Hart’s backroom staff, which included assistant coaches Hutson “Barber” Charles, Derek King and goalkeeper coach Michael “Brow” Maurice.
Hart took over the Soca Warriors in mid-2013 and led them to quarterfinal finishes at the 2013 and 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments as well as the Hex of the ongoing Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
However, Trinidad and Tobago’s form dipped considerably in 2016 and his team lost seven of their last 10 outings. At present, the Warriors are at the foot of the Hex with zero points from two games, along with the United States who axed coach Jürgen Klinsmann on Monday.
The decision to fire Hart was made by an ad-hoc committee headed by John-Williams, which is believed to have included technical committee chairman and Pro League CEO Dexter Skeene, technical director Muhammad Isa, Eastern Counties Football Union representative Sherwyn Dyer and vice-president Allan Warner.
According to the TTFA’s constitution, only the board of directors can hire or fire coaches. But the board opted to allow a sub-committee to make the call.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
John-Williams was easily the most influential person in the room, since he appointed Skeene and Isa to their current posts—he also works with Skeene at Pro League level—while Warner campaigned alongside him in his successful bid to be elected football president in November 2015.
Skeene and Isa, incidentally, had already ruled on Hart’s future on Monday when, in a technical committee meeting, they recommended that the board of directors make changes to the technical staff. That initial decision by the technical committee was made without bothering to speak to Hart in person or read his report on the Warriors’ 3-1 World Cup qualifying loss away to Honduras, which had not yet been submitted.
The potential flaw in the technical committee’s verdict—coupled with the backlash from the bizarre resignations of Dr Terence Babwah and Dave Isaac from the team’s technical staff, might have prompted a stay of execution for Hart—as the board ruled that Hart should have a chance to speak before a decision was made.
But that only bought the beleaguered coach an additional 24 hours.
Incidentally, only seven of the 13 board members turned up to the Wednesday meeting, although the low turnout might have been influenced by the 5.30pm start in the middle of the work week.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
Hart’s exit completes the clear-out of coaches at all significant levels under the new football president.
In under a year, technical director Kendall Walkes, women’s senior coach Randy Waldrum, under-20 coach Derek King and under-17 coach Ken Elie were all replaced. King and Waldrum were both Caribbean champions in their respective categories.
In truth, Hart’s performances fell away drastically since the change in local football presidents.
In the last nine matches before John-Williams replaced Raymond Tim Kee, the Warriors defeated Guatemala (twice), Cuba and Panama, with draws against Mexico (twice), the United States and Nicaragua. While their solitary loss came via kicks from the penalty mark in the Gold Cup quarterfinal contest against Panama.
But, under the new president, the Warriors only managed wins against St Vincent and the Grenadines (twice) and the Dominican Republic in the whole of 2016 with losses to the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Martinique, Peru, Uruguay and China and draws with Guatemala and Grenada.
During that period, Trinidad and Tobago dropped from 49th in FIFA and fourth in CONCACAF to 78th and ninth respectively.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-images/Wired868)
Hart insisted that the bad run was no more than a dip in form and vowed to turn things around by shaking up his player squad. But John-Williams and his board members were unconvinced. And the former Canada head coach and St Benedict’s College past pupil had to go.
He was told that he was surplus to requirements for the John-Williams-led football body at a popular fast food restaurant.
TTFA press release:
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and Senior National Men’s Team head coach Stephen Hart have agreed to part ways with immediate effect.
This follows a meeting held this afternoon between Mr Hart and members of the TTFA board of directors.
President David John-Williams, on behalf of the TTFA, thanks Mr Hart for his services over the past three years and wishes him every success in his future endeavours.
Mr John-Williams confirms that the announcement of a new head coach for the TTFA Senior National Men’s Team will be made in the shortest possible time.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
David John Williams is a fraud. Very disheartening, I guess W Connection and Stuart Charles will take us to Russia.
You no anything to take bout John Williams idea fraud stop talk thing you doh no
Ah big f@#king fraud!!!
Is Stuart Charles he want to give the job yes…..smh
Shae Winchester yes I said it. He’s a fraud. Trust me, it have people who know more than me.
soooooo, the Board did not make the decision. Ok. den.
Not a dam red cent of my money for ttfa,until The public is respected and our tax payers are allowed reasonable prices to see our players. If you want to charge $200.00 for uncovered mthen build your own stadium .
Hart is nothing but a scapegoat. However that is the nature of the game. Regardless without an infusion of talent, we will be watching the WC without T&T
If yuh dont have a hart,you dont need a head. Fire John Williams too.
The question is was this organised sacking a big chess game being played by the TTFA they Hart to come the big bad wolf so the same players who worshiped him and played for him turned against him over something is this our Chelsea and Morineo wher the players got the coach fired if so was it pre arranged in the chess game of our football we all know he and John Williams had some issues like organising game with out getting the coaches opinion alluh af ffing fedup why can,t we all just get along so the question is now yon made the move who local stooge going to replace him is it W Connection coach as intirium coach testing the waters os his friends with the assurance that the players will play for the chosen one TTFA be weary of Moses who reached the promise land but could not enter for past misdeeds all i want as an ardent true supporter the only person in the airport like last campaign when thigs were not looking good in the airport to meet team at midnight in the rain all i ask is that we treat people with dignity fairly and with earned respect Mr Hart thanks for the joy you brought to me and country and for always acknowledging my presence for that sir you will always have my respect god blessings to you and family may god bless this TTFA to make the right decisions moving foward let the games begin and PR
?
i guess our head coach will now be Earl Jean the way things going. undeserved
Hart’s axing was undeserved?
When people speak all u can do is (smh)…sure central has coaches for that pal…. and sure they deserve it…
Really guys?
…not atall surprised…better they bring back Bertille St. Clair….
Who is the WC Coach?
Stuart Charles fevrier
Watch this space
Hahaha. I expect a foreign coach. I’m not sure who the local assistant will be though. That would be interesting.
In the fullness of time.. smh
Remember we had this convo last year, just before the election eh..
Lasana, can we afford to pay a foreign coach?
FIFA money is flowing again. And, to be honest, FIFA has some grants that assist developing football nations in areas like this. Or at least they used to.
It was an open secret that Jack Warner would get FIFA money to pay his foreign coach and then ask the Gov’t to pick up the same tab as well.
But, yeah, they can probably move money around to get a foreign coach. It’s just a matter of who wants the job and what they can afford.
Foreign Coach Stuart Charles Fevier is what u meant to say sub minimally !! i see lol…..
Hope the TTFA have their accounts in order else not a damn cent for dem.
I just hope everyone the coach and his assistants get all their money owing to them…..
I think it had to happen but i have no faith in DJW
Who now? Who could they afford to pay, who would be willing to put up with continued bs? Sigh………….. sports continue to suffer. ?
TTFA is getting FIFA money again. So they can afford a coach.
If they spend it on a coach how they gonna tief?
Dais ok. TT & US fighting fuh last place… look like we just win it
Smh…idk nah. Can we vote out DJW now please?
He will Brian, he doesn’t deserve this bacchanal
Is “surplus to requirements” a quote? I hope not.. God speed to Coach Hart. In the end, he was not evenly yoked when it came to this administration.. Praying he rebounds and does well wherever he ends up.
Nah. Not a quote. Lol
I think this is the end of our world cup campaign, from the moment David John Williams took over running Trinidad football we have gone downhill,he and his cronies should have resigned instead
ah man say…everybody putting all kindah ting in cup and sipping and calling it tea…
bush…tea
tree bark…tea
now somebody put they foot in it and want we drink they toe….
cheyenne where we getting beenhakker money
Ent you have the Dutch connections ? Lol link them a discount
ha ha ha ha ha I would if that idiot was not the president
I hear ya
Interim Coach Charles Feverier…. With Latapy…. Wait for it…..
yeah for real
Hart-attack
John Williams kept clogging the arteries. Hoped they paid him off.
We copy cat the USA?
What’s new? We are a copy cat nation.
Just now we will find a trump for local government elections
Lolol! Except this eh no laughing matter.
He better come good with a replacement . I hope it’s someone who will have a Beenhakker effect : address our mentality issue and have us defensively organized …. but it will probably be Latapy who will say he wants us to “knock it” and play possession football against superior teams ???
We need to be dirty rough direct and fucking brave
Not all great olayers make good coaches….
Indeed Cheyenne
Im glad that someone else noticed that the dip in form came when the administration changed
these people make people just give up on supporting anything local yes……WICB killed Cricket for me years ago..and seems now DJW is set on killing Football for me to in this country oui………..lawd why we blessed with an abundance of Dotish incompetent Sporting Heads!! Really have me in bewilderment smh
The vengeance of Moko, bro; it’s the curse of all banana republics.
The last supper.
They carried Hart Ruby Tuesdays on a Thursday to buss his throat.
you know how long he planning that
Ray Charles could ah see that
Yeah so true Dion…..it was always in the making…..
the man have no class
Wow
Hartless you luv yuh punts.
Go Local . Experience count. Trend is on. Need a transition team for 2020 . Make the Warriors Great .
I thnk TTFA were influenced by USAFA actions … Hart deserved more time … hope he successor has better luck …
Unfortunate but justified…
Like cricket we are abject failures Williams et al.don’t know heir arse from their elbow when coming to football.
Problem I have with Williams is that he seems to always try to circumvent proper protocol to get his way. He’s running this association like a dictatorship, surrounding himself with a bunch of sycophants.
Hmmm.
Hmmmm I wonder if the doc will be back now
This is what I think of Williams running TTFA
I have mixed views about this. Hart is an excellent but hiring and firing managers are par the course. I have said before that the attitude of the players at any given time could be a reflection of the coach’s influence. He may have lost the dressing room. The TTFA executive is another story. Lasana I don’t think you could blame DJW for the team’s recent results.
I can’t blame him directly Fulton. But it is an awkward situation if you are the boss of a team of 20 and you suddenly have a superior who has a personal relationship and professional stake in some of your workers.
Won’t that suddenly make disciplining them and getting them to respect your authority more difficult?
I don’t know the inside story. Hasn’t the squad essentially remained the same?
Mostly. But some of the dynamics of the squad changed in the manner I pointed out. We lost our right back Justin Hoyte and playmaker Keron Cummings for different reasons. Those were the two main changes.
What does that have to do with DJW’s influence?
I told you DJW’s influence in the earlier response to your comment Fulton. Not the second one.
Lasana Liburd The WC Connections players, mainly Cyrus, was given an extended run despite his very poor form, I could not understand this. If Hart was under pressure to continue selecting him, and also any inability to discipline WC players, sad… I respect Coach Hart greatly, and always took him for his integrity, If he stuck around despite being compromised, knowing it would have led to his demise, This I do not accept. I believe Coach Hart knew he had to let them dismiss him, I hope that his contract is such that he is owed a nice sum, he would have gottwn nothing if he had walked away. Where we go from here, I wait and see… Good luck to Coach Hart
How legal is a sub committee making a call as such… I mean… can the TTFA give powers to such a committee to make such a decision?
Well if I remember the players did say that they were going down with their Coach Hart so I am waiting very patiently to see them stand up together and strike especially when they haven’t been paid themselves for the four games they played and the strike should also be against the dictator president to step down along with the VP, and TD. Them really good yes.
That will be the day…
Day and Night
Well the day has arrived eh lol
When pigs fly Earl
Live in hope uncle Earl Mango Pierre.
ENT ……Lasana
SO NO EXPLANATION? He who pays the piper calls the tune so DJW simply sends him packing and feels under no obligation to tell us why. And I don’t mean any foolishness like saying that “the team has not been winning in recent times,” which we all know.
If Keith Look Loy is right and Hart’s replacement is Russell Latapy or Dwight Yorke, the address of national football will have been changed to much higher up Shit Street and I shall not be visiting them until they move again.
Unless, of course, DJW can persuade me that the move was made in the best interest of national football and not in the best interest of the president of the national football association, which, it bears repeating, is not the same thing.
Thank you Brian you captured everything in your post. We in T&T thrive on failure.
..’The decision to fire Hart was made by an ad-hoc committee headed by John-Williams, which is believed to have included technical committee chairman and Pro League CEO Dexter Skeene, technical director Muhammad Isa, Eastern Counties Football Union representative Sherwyn Dyer and vice-president Allan Warner.”..
more puppets than seasame street
Imagine that they fired my Coach Hart eh and they are still owing my players their monies for the four games eh Santo Domingo, Martinque, Costa Rica, and Honduras eh and it ain’t no set ah big monies nah. Them really good yes steeuuppss.
Firing Hart is not the answer. . .until our players fix their attitude we will continue to be a soca nation not a footballing nation. Imagine we firing a man we never paid on time. . .look we too jokey.
What i have observed is that DJW is forming something of a old boys club. Bringing back into the framework former personnel that were tried tested and failed. While Hart has to be held accountable for the team’s performance. There is feeling that something is wrong with the executive of the TTFA. Is a case of Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.
..QATAR!..
We’re doomed
Nothing we didn’t expect. Wish Hart all the best and hopefully his next tenure will be with a professional, ethical organization. Thanks Harty for brining the fans back to the game after a long drought. Your Country owes you a debt of gratitude. God bless you in your future endeavors.
Well we saw this coming.
yea I guess so.
All we have to do is look at when the fortunes started to change….
just read it. Well that’s the nature of the game unfortunately. Could have a great start and a few bad days at the office and you’re out. Personally I would have like to see him stay and complete. Whether or not the change is president is the real problem is left to be seen, time will tell. In the mean time I would still like us to qualify.