PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC- Former National defender, Brent Sancho, has blasted the Trinidad and TobagoFootball Association (TTFA) for refusing to honour a payment schedule designed to settle a longstanding wage dispute with the 2006 strike squad.
Sancho, who represented several players from the squad made his comments following threats by members to return to court to force the hand of the TTFA.
“TTFA made a deal. If they decided to use money meant for youth development or to fund various programmes, that was their choice,” said Sancho in a three-page letter addressed to TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee.
“If TTFA want to avoid returning to court in February, they are going about it the wrong way”.
13 players were owed nearly TT 12 million dollars after the UK-based Sports Dispute Resolution Panel (SPDR) and later the Trinidad and Tobago High Court ruled in their favour in a legal impasse with TTFA.
An out-of-court settlement to pay in several tranches was reached last May however players are now complaining that the TTFA is five months late in the second of five payments. The Ex-national defender was also reacting to a local newspaper article quotingdirector of communications, Shaun Fuentes, as saying the TTFA used funds originally intended for development and national teams to pay the players in the first lump sum.