Matthias is the right man for the job

– says Terrence Archer

Christopher Matthias is the right person to head the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) says Terrence Archer, former national player.

Archer in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport on Tuesday, declared: “You could quote me as saying that he is the right man for the job. He has vision and administratively I think he is very capable. I have had personal dealings with him at the club level when we were at the Pele Football Club,” said the former national football captain.

Archer, who resides in the United States of America, and is skipper of the  Guyana Master’s team currently in Guyana, said Matthias will stand out as the best man when compared to the three other candidates; Ivan Persaud, Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Alfred King.

Christopher Matthias
Christopher Matthias
Terrence Archer
Terrence Archer

Archer said while he is not up to date with the current election process, he is well aware of the past system which according to him was a corrupt one but said he hopes that the process this time around is fair.

“Right now I am overseas, just back for a couple of days and have not followed the process, but in the past it used to be a corrupt system where the guys manipulated the constitution to an extent to get their supporters in tuned to get elected. I don’t know how it is right now, but once the process is fair I think that Chris will come out as the right person.”

Asked what are his expectations of the executive that will head the Football Federation come April 12, Archer said he is looking for real development in the sport.

“I am looking for a vision to take Guyana to the next level. We have not been able to get past the World Cup qualifiers. I would like to see a new management team; to seem them pursue better training for coaches. I would also like to see administratively better facilities for players. Additionally, I would like to see a number of scholarships being offered to players.”

Archer said Guyana has a wealth of talented players but they lack opportunities that would enable them to better develop themselves and the sport in general.

“Most of the players from Trinidad, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries are given the opportunities to play abroad but they don’t ever come to Guyana, so the new president should be a person who will be out there, who can think that Guyana has talented players and give them opportunities to play overseas and make us develop.”

He said that the new body will have to look at the availability of sporting gear for players while paying attention to taking the sport semi-professionally in the event that they are unable to move fully professional.

Another issue which he said has dogged the sport for years in Guyana is the lack of accountability, which according to him, has to be dealt with seriously by the newly elected executive.

“You can’t just go and spend money and not account for it. This is the kind of skullduggery and stuff that is going on right now. The new people who are coming in, those are the sort things that have to be put in. The constitution they have to look into that and it think Chris has that in his thought and it is in process right now,” said the former Pele skipper.