St Clair refuses to be Beenhakker’s deputy

SACKED National football coach Bertille St Clair has reportedly refused an offer to take up a role as assistant coach to his successor Dutchman Leo Beenhakker for the current World Cup football campaign. Revelation of this was made by CONCACAF president and Special Advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) Jack Warner yesterday. The football boss told Newsday an offer was made for St Clair, the only coach to take this country to a World Cup tournament — the Under-19 Youth World Cup in Portugal in early 1991 — but he bluntly refused.

This new development came just a week after St Clair was removed as coach of the TT Warriors which got its first point of the 2006 World Cup campaign in a goalless draw against Costa Rica at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. The result followed an embarrassing five-nil drubbing at the hands of Guatemala two weeks ago and an equally disappointing 2-1 defeat by the United States at Queen’s Park Oval on Ash Wednesday. 

St Clair was replaced by Beenhakker who got the nod from the country’s national footballers and Football Federation, ahead of Englishman Ron Atkinson. CONCACAF administrator and former team manager Richard Braithwaite described the TT team’s chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup as, “very good.” He said a victory in the next match, against Panama, can also see this country move into third place in the CONCACAF standings.