Former T&T football captain David Nakhid recalls the work of late manager Richard Braithwaite during two tumultuous Gold Cup campaigns Wavering between reluctance and tacit acceptance, I feel an obligation to pen some of the experiences and times that I shared with the man commonly referred to by most players …
Read More »Gally’s farewell: Football icon rules himself out of future TTFA role
It is a shame that unscrupulous characters have continuously been allowed to stifle the progress of Trinidad and Tobago’s football for the financial gain of themselves and their cliques. Even though I have been victimized by these small-time tyrants for my integrity, strength of character and seriousness and having a …
Read More »Remember 19/11: Gally’s post-Strike Squad torment
Strike Squad coach Everald Cummings talks to Earl Best about what he felt on November 19, 1989, what he feels now and how he has been treated. PART II: Bitterness does not enter the picture when Strike Squad coach Everald “Gally” Cummings discusses the events of November 19, 1989; when …
Read More »Remember 19/11: When Gally mashed Jack’s corns on Road to Italy
Strike Squad coach Everald “Gally” Cummings talks to Earl Best in the first of a two-part interview about the Road to Italy and an explosive fall-out with TTFA general secretary Jack Warner PART I: “The sun,” Michael Maurice said about his failure to stop Paul Caligiuri’s long-range left-footed shot on …
Read More »Remember 19/11: What happened after the final whistle on Nov 19…
November 20, 1989 was the morning after the evening before. Having recaptured the pre-match euphoria, Ashford Jackman now reminds us of what it felt like that day when, cock-sure that we were bound for Italy, we all woke up to find that we were all dressed up with nowhere to …
Read More »Remember 19/11: The climb to the brink of history
Recapturing the euphoric mood of the moment, Ashford Jackman previews the final game of the 1990 World Cup qualifiers in which, to take T&T to the Finals in Italy, Everald “Gally” Cummings’ confident Strike Squad needed simply not to lose. Controversy. Adversity. Achievement. The clear signposts along the road travelled …
Read More »Omertà (part ten): How The Belly flattened Warner
…Then was caught by a ‘Useless’ journalist ‘ CONGRATULATIONS JACK, MAUREEN, all of my Trinidadian family that I love for these many years.’ Chuck was blogging after Trinidad held Sweden to a 0-0 draw in Dortmund in June 2006. The love for Warner and his wife lasted another five years. …
Read More »Omertà (part nine): The Belly Eats FIFA
Chapter 9: Blazer’s Michelin Guide to the World CHUCK STUFFED HIS FACE in the world’s most expensive restaurants. Football paid. When, at the end of 2012, the new people at Concacaf sacked him, they forbade him to pay himself any more money. The money tap was being turned off. But …
Read More »Omertà (part eight): How Blatter keeps Power at FIFA
Chapter 8: Sepp buys votes with FIFA’s money JACK STEALS. He is a career thief and it has made him a multi-millionaire. To hide his stealing, he lies. He lies to his colleagues in football, he employs a bookkeeper in his homeland to pose as an auditor and lie for …
Read More »Happy Independence: Live Wire awards the saints and sinners among us
Happy Independence Day! Wired868 wishes to extend warm greetings to Trinidad and Tobago on this blessed anniversary. Fifty-two years already?! If it is any consolation, you have the awkward drainage system of a toddler, the attention span of a seven-year-old and the political sophistication of a 12-year-old. Congratulations to the national …
Read More »Omertà (Part seven): You want World Cup tickets?
Chapter seven: The Brothers have plenty IMAGINE the three million tickets for the World Cup piled up in a mountain of cardboard. You love football? You want a tiny part of that mountain? You can try through FIFA’s lotteries or buying through national associations. All fans are equal in the …
Read More »Gally talks on 2014 World Cup, Warner and bonus-gate
“Ask me not,” Everald “Gally” Cummings says, “what he did for the game but what the game did for him.” The former Strike Squad coach is responding to a question about disgraced former FIFA vice-president, Austin Jack Warner. Inviting the normally outspoken national player to be “brutally honest,” we had …
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