St Clair defends ‘old’ players

CONTROVERSIAL Trinidad and Tobago football coach Bertille St Clair concludes his exclusive interview with Newsday correspondent Andre E Baptiste today. The interview in which the reclusive coach speaks for the first time on a lot of issues was broadcast recently on i95.5 FM Radio. AB: How do you deal with people saying that we are going back in time with the midfield area? Russell Latapy, Dwight Yorke, David Nakhid — does that indicate how bad our current midfield is today?

BS: I would not say how bad, you know, if you use these types of guys, it indicates you want to bring in experience into the team.
AB: But all three of them?
BS: I did not say I am bringing all three of them the same time!  We have them, but, hey, they are not old huh. Remember Roger Milla from Cameroon? There are two guys on the English team who are 33 and 34 respectively. So I do not know why we are doing that. Age is a number.
AB: So you do not believe that age is a problem?
BS: No, once you want to play, you can play good. In football, when you have touch, touch don’t leave you, you know? Your speed my leave you a little, but once you have the touch and you can move around still, you can play!
In this football today, everything tends to go quicker, so you need people who could hold up the ball, but you also need people who could win the ball.
AB: What help would you like from the Football Federation?
BS: Well, actually I think that they are doing their best. We had discussions, and it went well, about what we would like to see for Trinidad and Tobago football. And I will throw this out now to the Government — give the guys some incentive, hey, let Cornell Glen know that if he goes to the World Cup that he will get an acre of land to put a house on.
All right, so give them that incentive. Let Government come and ask, “How many local players do you want me to pay,” and put up in a house and let me train them full-time so we can help them develop themselves quicker. Come in and do that. These same guys, when we build them like this, then take them to schools, let them talk to the kids, let them feel part of this, and want to be part of this.
AB: The travel arrangements —  why does the team travel from Tobago to Trinidad? People have said that yet again, this long distance travel on the match day made them to lose.
BS: It would appear so, but we did not have a problem coming in. We had a chartered flight, we just had to sit on the plane, with police escorts from the hotel.
AB: So it was not a handicap
BS: Definitely not. You know, Monday evening, when everybody was jumping up on the streets, we were away, on the football field. The guys were all in it and I think they enjoyed their stay in Tobago.
AB: How did the team feel after Barbados?
BS: The guys were in good spirits! I mean, they thought they should have played better, but it has passed. I do not like to dwell in the past. What is past, is past.
AB: But you can learn from the past.
BS: Yes, you can learn from the past, and that is what we definitely do, right? But that is not going to change anything; we have to think of the future.
AB: We are days away from the next match. How are things looking? Are you having problems with players? Training?
BS:  One or two players did not yet turn up for the three training sessions for the week.
AB: What happens if a guy does not turn up?
BS: Without a good excuse he could be in trouble. They are mostly backed by their club or so. We are providing them with so much extras as physical therapists, doctors, supervisors etc that I expect that the league this year will even benefit from what we are bringing in.
AB: How is the co-ordination with the league coaches?
BS: But that is it, I tell the people that if you have a spring training in the morning, then it would be useless to do the same training with us. It would be nice if we could co-ordinate the training. But everybody believes that I am better than the next fellow is, and that is the story. But I am not a believer in that way. I see us all as having strengths and weaknesses. But the thing about football, like everything else in life, is success.
AB: Mr St Clair, before you go, if you would please, a message to the public.
BS: I would like to tell the public to have some confidence in the players. Tell them not to worry about who the coach is, because I have a job to do and I am not the one on the field. But with their support, I am sure that we can all bring Trinidad and Tobago to go forward.
That is why I tell the players, do not go out there and play for me, but play for your country. That is why I am asking kindly to the country to support us, and I know they do that.
And I ask the scribes, when they have things to say, please, come and talk to me. Added to that, some of them talking, nothing but talking, check their record!
AB: So you still believe you have the best record?
BS: Without any doubt, man! I am the only person in the Caribbean who knows how the seat of a World Cup bench is. All the others can only speculate.
AB: But you always fear that if there is failure at the end of the day that you could lose your job.
BS: Yes, but that is how life in football goes. That is part of life. You go on the grounds and 90,000 people wave at you, and 90 minutes later your house could be on fire.
AB: Mr St Clair, good luck and let’s hope that Trinidad and Tobago win their next two matches.
BS: Well, thank you so much!