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The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has sacked longstanding technical director Anton Corneal with immediate effect.
The decision was made by the TTFA Board, during a meeting on Sunday, and relayed to Corneal on Monday.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
TTFA president Kieron Edwards allegedly recommended Corneal’s termination, in his capacity as technical committee chairman, and the board unanimously agreed—after an hour-long meeting on the subject.
The current TTFA board comprises: president Kieron Edwards, first vice-president Colin Murray, second vice-president Osmond Downer, third vice-president Jameson Rigues, and ordinary members Alicia Austin, Inspector Andrew Boodhoo, Allan Logan, Ryan Nunes, and Shelton Williams.
Wired868 cannot verify whether all nine members were at Sunday’s meeting.
The terms of Corneal’s contract stipulate that his employers can dismiss him at any time with two months’ notice. However, the local football body opted to pay off Corneal for the two-month period and send him home immediately.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Corneal confirmed his dismissal. He said no reason was offered.
“It was strange,” said Corneal. “The contract says they can give me two months’ notice and they said they would pay me for the two months.
“[…] It cannot be related to my performance as TD, so there must be some other reason that I don’t know. Of course, I am disappointed but they must have their reason.”
TTFA High Performance Programme coordinator Rajesh Latchoo confirmed that he also resigned his post, upon learning of Corneal’s dismissal.
(via Sharome Burton/ DFA.
“The kind of work that Anton did for the country and the Caribbean region and what he represents, I believe in the vision that he has for football in the country,” Latchoo told Wired868. “If that is not the direction they are going in, then I felt it was best that I also step aside.”
Latchoo is a former international head coach for Dominica as well as for the Trinidad and Tobago girls programmes. In 2014, he led Trinidad and Tobago to third place in the inaugural Concacaf Girls Under-15 Championship, which remains our highest ever finish in the competition.
He also coached Caledonia AIA and Joe Public at Pro League level.
Photo: Chevaughn Christopher/ Wired868.
Edwards did not respond to questions on Corneal’s fate, up to the time of publication.
A TTFA insider confirmed that the local football body intends to appoint an interim technical director, who will be recommended by Edwards.
Corneal has served four terms as technical director for the TTFA. He was hired in 2012 by interim president Lennox Watson and remained until 2014, when he quit due to non-payment of salaries under the administration of late president Raymond Tim Kee.
Photo: Allan V Crane/ Wired868.
Corneal returned to the post in 2017—as replacement for Kendall Walkes—under Tim Kee’s successor, David John-Williams, before again withholding his services due to a similar breach of contract by his employers.
In 2022, then Normalisation Committee chair Robert Hadad returned to Corneal as replacement for Dion La Foucade as technical director. Two years later, Corneal resigned to take up a Fifa position before having a change of heart and being re-hired by the Hadad-led TTFA.
On Sunday 14 September, for the first time, Corneal was fired from the post of technical director by the TTFA.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
Corneal’s relationship with Trinidad and Tobago’s football dates back to the 1980s when he first represented the Men’s National Senior Team as a teenaged midfielder.
The prominence of his surname dates back even further to the 1960s when his father, Alvin Corneal, established himself as a renowned Trinidad and Tobago international footballer and cricketer before going on to become an international coach as well.
The younger Corneal made a bigger mark as a coach than a player, as he led Trinidad and Tobago to the 2007 Fifa Men’s Under-17 World Cup as head coach while he was an advisor, two years later, when coach Zoran Vranes took the young Soca Warriors to the 2009 Fifa Men’s Under-20 World Cup.
During his time as technical director, Trinidad and Tobago national youth teams came within one game of qualification for a Fifa tournament on several occasions. But there have been more bad results than good ones.
How much of the national youth team’s unsatisfactory results can be attributed to Corneal—particularly with national coaches regularly paid late and teams routinely denied the chance for pre-tournament travel—is another story.
Corneal claimed that he met all his relevant line items as technical director, inclusive of helping coordinate: a national youth league (the Republic Bank National Youth Football League), active coach education workshops, the development of women’s football (TTFA U-13 and U-15 G Leagues), and the High Performance Programme.
In the end, Edwards was dissatisfied with Corneal and convinced his board members to make a change.
“What is the reason behind it?” asked Corneal, rhetorically. “I can’t say. It could be other persons pushing them [for a job].
“If they have decided they want to go in another direction, then who am I to say otherwise.”
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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.
