With his storied playing career transitioning into the realm of coaching, long serving servant of Flamingo Football Club Shem Porter, disclosed that he intends to add another bow to his quiver by becoming an executive of the entity in a bid to resuscitate its fortunes.
This was revealed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Porter, who serves as the Club’s captain, the primary aim of moving into the administration and executive realm, is to restore the club to its former glory days of years past while providing an avenue for young men to harness their talents.
Porter declared, “I am forming back a strong executive and will attempt to restore the club back to its glory days. We need and have people that have the love for the club and want to be a part of the executive to strengthen it. We want individuals who believe in developing the club and that is my plan.”
He added, “For me it’s always a plus to get young men away from issues and I see it in the ghetto communities and if I could get 60 players and keep them together, then that is something that will inspire me to start back the club and get it back on track. Sports is a key part of or plays a key part in the poorer communities and it’s a plus for me to start over the club and give them something to stand for. Football has allowed me to travel to many places and we have talent in these communities and the time spent at the club even for a few hours, keeps them away from possible problems that could occur during that time.”
Questioned how much of an impact has the ongoing covid-19 pandemic had on his plans, he said, “It has had a very big impact on us. It has obviously impacted our initial election date and it is a setback for us because we it might seem like we have to start back from scratch. But nonetheless, the same persons and players who were behind the club before the covid-19 situation are still here. What covid-19 has done is change the timespan for the elections but not the willingness of the individuals. We already had our meetings and discussions and everyone is ready and willing to go through the process.”
He went on, “We are awaiting the end of this covid-19 situation and once football is back on track we will be ready once again to stage the elections. The GFA has already spoken to us on how we are to go about the process and they want to assist us in this process of hosting the elections and building the club. We still function as normal but we don’t have a president at the moment and we don’t have a functioning executive at the moment. The last time we had an election was in 2018, since then we have not had another election but we intend to change that.”
