Wallace: Things will get better

DESPITE a debt of $50 million, TT Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace said he plans to clear it in the space of two to three years.

Wallace gave details of the TTFA’s huge debt and outlined some of the plans in place to eliminate it at President’s Box, Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, on Wednesday. Wallace, who has been in office for 100 days, said, “We are doing the best that we can under the circumstances and I want to tell you and tell the football fraternity that things are going to get so much better and probably faster than we think.” Concerning the debt Wallace said, “The debt of $50 million, we have signed off an MOU (memorandum of understanding) as far as that is concerned...we would probably be able to take care of that debt within two to three years and who knows it may probably be before that.” The TTFA president said moves are being made to reduce the debt, saying, “We have also secured an apparel deal (Avec) worth $25 million dollars over four years, we have set up a new website that got over 1,000 hits in the first day, we have secured our first domestic sponsor in Caribbean Chemicals, we have secured sponsorship for FA Cup...we have secured sponsorship for a new league, our elite league the Pro League, the Super League.”

Wallace did not want to point fingers as to who put the TTFA in debt. “I am not here to cast aspersions on anyone character, I am not here to blame anyone for anything. I am not here to say that anyone did anything, all I am saying to you – these are the facts as discovered.”

Wallace, who was elected president in November, said money was taken from employees in the past. “When we got in there in November (2019), there was no money to pay office staff for the month of November. We discovered that NIS, PAYE and Health Surcharge the last time that was paid to the relevant authorities would have been November 2017.”

Wallace said the debt for NIS, PAYE and Health Surcharge totals $4 million. “This money was reflected as being taken out from the salaries of the employees, so $4 million dollars taken out from salaries of employees and that $4 million dollars has not been paid to the relevant authorities.”

Travel agencies are owed over $850,000 and some of them are on the verge of closing down with Wallace saying a letter of comfort was given to one of them, on Tuesday, for their bankers. A loan from Concacaf for US$600,000 (plus interest of $2,500 per month) in 2017 is still outstanding, along with 29 bounced cheques totalling $345,000.

Wallace, who gave John-Williams credit for the number of international friendlies played during his tenure that earned the TTFA money, said players are also owed money.

“Match fees were not played since June totalling just over a million dollars. Coaches and technical staff not paid since June totalling $1.3 million.”

The debt facing the current TTFA administration also includes former technical director of the TTFA Kendal Walkes. The High Court ordered the TTFA in September to pay Walkes $5 million after being fired from his job prematurely. Wallace said Walkes is asking for a settlement figure of $2.5 million which the TTFA is trying to discuss with Walkes and his team of lawyers.

The Home of Football project owes $2 million and former TT men’s senior team coaches Stephen Hart ($5 million) and Dennis Lawrence are also owed money.