With only seven days remaining in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) transfer period, Calvin Allen, coach of the Elite League outfit the Guyana Police Force (GPF), has confirmed the procurement of high profile players Delwyn Fraser and Sherwin Skeete.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. Fraser, formerly of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Fruta Conquerors defender Skeete have joined the growing migration of players to the lawmen, who have also secured the services of Eon Alleyne, Jahaal Greaves and Simeon Moore during the period.
Allen declared, “As we all know, Fraser is experienced and talented. He is a tremendous player and after playing for the Guyana Defence Force for several years and establishing himself with them and becoming a Golden Jaguar, there is no doubting his ability. He also brings leadership qualities to the team so that was a no-brainer. Looking forward and aiming to challenge for trophies, players of his quality we need because they bring experience and expertise. Skeete is definitely one of the hardest working fullbacks in Guyana’s football and also humble and disciplined. He is a serial winner with a lot of experience. These two guys we brought in are championship calibre players. I think in a professional local transfers market you would pay top dollar for them.”
According to Allen, the influx of quality players to the lawmen has changed the team’s intention and objectives heading into the new season. He added that the plethora of talent at the disposal of the management staff forces the team to reevaluate their initial prospects of eventual positional placement.
He affirmed, “I think the statement is clear that our intention is not only to take part in the league but to compete for a championship. With the players we brought in, it’s clear, and the club is also building a second team to win trophies at the lower levels. We are basically strengthening both teams. Definitely, that is the objective, which is to compete for the title and that is the sole intention. After our maiden appearance in the GFF Elite League, the intention was to get into the top four but with the acquisitions that we have made, it’s now for us to push for the top two. We have to change our objectives and aim higher, which is the championship.”
Asked if the extension of the GFF Transfer Period has provided an advantage in securing other transfer targets, Allen disclosed, “The areas that we wanted to focus on, we had already fixed those areas and conducted our business during the initial period. The extension gave us the opportunity to bring in another good goalkeeper, and basically in the extension we only conducted one transfer. It didn’t affect us much, we actually did most of our transfers during the original period. This period we have conducted eight acquisitions in the normal period and one in the extension.”
He further said, “I wouldn’t say it’s an advantage to us because all the teams have the same opportunity to use the extra days, it’s not a direct advantage as we all have the same time. It would have helped all the clubs especially those who lost players to acquire players to replace them.”
The GFF) has opted to extend the 2020/2021 Pre-Season Transfer Window to Sunday August 23rd in an effort to facilitate the smooth transfer of local players during the covid-19 pandemic.
The decision, which was endorsed by FIFA Director of Football Regulatory James Kitching, was established following deliberations with its regional member associations, affiliates and elite league clubs.
The original transfer period occurred from June 1st-July 31st. The release disclosed that FIFA endorsed the GFF’s decision following a correspondence yesterday due to the request being consistent with the guidelines regarding Covid-19, which was approved by the Bureau of the Council on April 6th 2020.
