Dear Editor,
Seriously, I feel the pain of most here and I understand the position which most of them are taking. Guyana football will fall to its lowest point ever based on the position and philosophy of this new body; it’s clearly a repeat of the last masters who came under so much fire, yet most of the supporters of the last are still in support of the new; it took a scandal to remove the old and it will take the same to remove the new.
People are very loyal in Guyana, unfortunately sometimes to the detriment of progress. People who are students of the game and understand the way in which progress works in football and how you achieve the financial backing to move the game forward, would know it’s close to impossible for this new body to change the lives of my fellow footballers.
Now to coaching: any coach who has respect for himself would know that taking a local team with no international experience, which has had no senior domestic football play and has not had enough time with them is being set up. In my opinion, in view of the last exploits of the Golden Jags, you would think that being on the international stage of all the top networks and gaining the respect of both Central and South American teams, we would have taken that momentum forward, yet here we are talking about Brazil and Germany’s combined philosophy in a country where we have no professional league and no elite youth academy, in a sport where there’s no money.
Guyana needs to become a brand that can attract the likes of Colombia, Bolivia, Panama, etc, as we did previously, and then start development with the benefits acquired. I am not the smartest person, but one needs to sell something to gain profit. I truly respect the game as well as everyone who loves the sport whether they agree with me or not, but loyalty should never replace honesty. Everything that has been said and done makes a coach look incredibly inept in terms of moving Guyana football forward, and to coaches football is about repetition and should not be used and degraded by an organization which doesn’t have a clue.
I respect all coaches in Guyana, because they do it for free, and it means there’s a level of commitment to the sport, but if the GFF doesn’t invest in them, they will always fail. Some of them are asking for the support of the GFF, the new TD and the head coach, but to gain support they must sell their plan not disrespect their position when there were families who were listening to them speak on national television. I have not seen what these guys have done before and do not know what they would bring, so people can keep them accountable and in turn give them support (you have to sell, so people can buy). Anyway, I will end by saying some of them created this monster to some extent, including myself, by thinking that maybe if we put up with it and bring about a little change it would turn out for the good, but I now understand two wrongs can never make a right. People should make their voices heard loud and clear and pray the masses hear their cry.
Yours faithfully,
Kayode McKinnon
