Golden Jaguars captain Chris Nurse has once again engaged the media to advocate for new blood in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and for negotiations to start for contracts for players for the new year.
In a scathing letter sent to the media, Nurse says that the next FIFA friendly match is set for February 6 which means that negotiations of contracts between players and the GFF should be taking place now in order to secure an opponent and location for the fixture.
“It will not surprise me if the federation make no effort to arrange anything, collect their monthly monies and continues to exist,” Nurse said, adding that over many decades the GFF has shown no vision, has no solid plans for its national athletes to progress and succeed in football and has therefore not progressed.
According to Nurse, the last 12 months have been the most marketable period for the Guyana national team. The team created history by securing World Cup qualification but the GFF did not match this progression and was so lackadaisical in their preparations that they could not bring Mexico to Guyanese soil. He also said no consultations were held with the players on the change of venue nor were they informed why it had been changed and further, they did not reap any financial benefit from the sale of the fixture. “…Until now [the GFF] cannot release a figure for how much the game was sold …and how much money was made…,” he said.
Poor management
The national captain said that the players’ commitment and dedication to their country is unquestionable; they wear their T-shirts with pride and relish every opportunity to represent Guyana; however, for too long they have been stagnated because of the GFF’s poor management.
According to Nurse, “FIFA provides the federation with approximately US$250,000 [about $50 million] a year, …plenty money and a clever person knows how to invest money and allows money to make more money, a foolish person spends all,” he said. The GFF has failed to plan and as such every dollar earned from the team, along with sponsors’ incentives has to be put back into the Federation to repay debt.”
Nurse also rubbished claims that local businesses do not support football. “I do not believe this, I believe the businesses know the corruption within … the federation and whilst willing to help the teams [they] do not want to work alongside the current personnel in the federation.”
The captain contends that the players are committed and they believe that they, and the public, deserve better representation by the football administration. He also said that if the GFF management has realised that football has progressed much faster than they had foreseen and they do not possess the requisite skills to manage the game, they should make way for more energetic administrators.
