Alpha United Head Coach Wayne Dover said that political manoeuvering by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) led to him being overlooked for the Golden Jaguars top post.
A veteran of three FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns in 2006, 2010 and 2014, Dover, in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, said: “There is a political reason that I have been overlooked. Hence the frivolous excuse of saying I am engaged with Alpha is a way to save face because if they had this in mind, I would not have been approached to coach the team.”
He added:” I see the current administration using the same posture as it was alleged of the previous. The coaches association with me being the president will not sit idly by and see poor governance in our football. So we took a position to ensure we play an integral part in seeing good governance of our football. Hencem that could be one of the reasons for me to be sidelined as the coach.”
Dover is the present coach of Alpha United which is currently participating in the CONCACF Champions League for the second time.
“So to hear this as one of the reasons, is a joke. They simply cannot deal with a professional approach. I was given the job and the salary from the onset was contentious. I refused to accept $120,000 and they then made an offer for $150,000.
“I had finished working as the assistant coach during the World Cup 2014 qualifying campaign and my salary was two times the amount offered by the current administration. What is very disturbing to see is that I was the assistant coach then and now being elevated back to the head coach, I was being offered a lesser amount,” he said.
Dover, who had three previous stints as head coach and was also a part of four CFU Cup campaigns in the years of 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 said:“The administration didn’t have the decency to notify me of the decision they made in appointing a national coach since they would have engaged me and practically given me the job.”
Asked about the criteria that might have been utilized to select Denzil Thompson as the new head coach, Dover said:” I don’t know how serious the administration can be about football and using the best available people in the development of the game. The GFF president (Christopher Matthias) would have known what criteria he used to arrive at this decision.
“I don’t know what experience he is talking about with Thompson with these various clubs. Development is measured by results. You can’t develop a product and there is no end result. Thompson’s track record will have shown over the years they are no great success and development in terms of wins. Where are all these clubs he would talked about in terms of developing?”
He went on: “We have seen over the years that Pele is a force to be reckoned with. Arguably they were the best club in Guyana and I won’t pin any development and success on Thompson. If you look at Western Tigers, they used to be a force to be reckoned with and always have good players. Once again I still don’t see why the president is attributing such success to this individual.
“If you look at Santos which use to be one of our top teams and the army before Denzil coached them, all those are clubs with rich history and a history of having good players. To attribute their standing in football to Thompson would be a shame.
“All those clubs touted as being developed by Thompson, we would want to see a period where those clubs were never powerhouses and shown a comprehensive developmental programme being rolled out by Thompson to bring them to a level where the President say they are at now,” added Dover.
Asked if his qualifications merited selection to the post, Dover said: “Of course I am qualified for the job. I have the years of experience working at that level and the results from working at that level. I challenge the administration to put forward the qualifications and background information of all the other coaches available in Guyana who they might have wanted to choose for this job.
“I am not the owner of the senior national team, I am merely a coach doing a good job. If the federation overlooked me, it’s an opportunity for the other coaches to get a look at, particularly Thompson who would have spent many years being critical of other coaches and will now be given the opportunity to produce based on his self-claim of being the best coach in Guyana.
“Hence all the development they talk about, this is the time to see development go hand in hand with results because they must be a way to measure the works of development. I will still use this opportunity to wish them well because at the end of the day, Guyana is still my country and I want to see my country do well,” He added.
