Stern John joins TT coaching staff

Lawrence, who headed Trinidad and Tobago into the 2006 World Cup with a goal against Bahrain, has included this country’s greatest ever scorer Stern John to his backroom staff. Lawrence’s main assistants will be Arsenal legend Sol Campbell and W Connection coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier.

The appointment of Charlkes- Fevrier is an interesting one as he was one of the frontrunners for the head coaching job. The St Lucian had a spell in charge of TT from 2003-2004 when Lawrence played under him.

But it is John’s appointment which has attracted the headlines.

The ex-Sunderland forward has a mind boggling 70 goals in 115 appearances for this country, ranking him joint 12th all-time internationally, ahead of familiar names such as Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (68 from 136 games), Brazil’s Romario (55 from 70 games) and France’s Thierry Henry (51 from 123 matches) to name a few.

John, who was an assistant coach at recently crowned Digicel Pro League champions Central FC this season, is ingrained in local football and was also recently playing in the Super League Championship division with Saddle Hill Hotspur.

Ross Russell has been named as the goalkeeping coach.

In somewhat of a shake up, Dr Terrence Babwah was removed as the official team doctor. Instead, Israel Dowlat will handle the medical duties for the national team alongside physiotherapist Dave Isaac.

Fitness coach Riedoh Berdien of South Africa, who held the post during the ill-fated Tom Saintfiet era, stays on in that position.

Lawrence’s complement of staff is now complete and the 42 year old coach will now turn attention to the 2018 World Cup qualifying matches against Panama and Mexico on March 24 and 28.

TT football team staff: Head Coach- Dennis Lawrence Assistant Coaches – Sulzeer “Sol” Campbell, Stuart Charles Fevrier Coach – Stern John Goalkeeper Coach – Ross Russell Fitness Conditioning Coach- Riedoh Berdien Team Doctor-Israel Dowlat Physiotherapist- Dave Isaac Massage Therapist- Saron Joseph Evaluation Science GPRS- Stephen Bradley Match Analyst- Matthew Hawkes Media Officer – Shaun Fuentes Equipment Manager- Michael Williams.