Beenhakker hired as Director of Football – Page 62
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has agreed to terms with former Real Madrid, Netherlands, and T&T national team coach, Leo Beenhakker and former Canada national team coach and technical director, Stephen Hart, to join its ranks in time for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Beenhakker will serve as the Director of Football and Hart will assume the role of head coach of the senior national men’s team.
As Director of Football, Beenhakker will help shape the brand of TTFA national team programmes, mentor and advise T&T national team coaches, and provide a long-term structure in the way TTFA national teams operate.
Beenhakker, who successfully guided the Soca Warriors through World Cup qualification and the final round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, will come to T&T to observe the Gold Cup pool and eventual squad at training camp and accompany the team to the US as part of the T&T delegation.
Hart, who comes highly recommended by Beenhakker to fill the role as head coach, is a T&T native from San Fernando who began his playing career in T&T and built his post-playing career in Canada through the Canadian Soccer Association.
Hart earned praise for taking an unheralded Canada team to the semifinal round in the 2011 Gold Cup.
In 45 matches as head coach of Canada, Hart compiled a record of 20 wins, ten draws, and 15 losses.
Included in his record are wins against each of T&T’s upcoming Gold Cup first round opponents—El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras.
Of the appointments, TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee said: “I have made it a point from the moment of my election as the president of this organisation six months ago, to take this organisation into a new direction to enable the public to fall in love with football once again.
“Enlisting the expertise of both Mr Beenhakker and Mr Hart marks a high point that will yield substantial long-term benefits for T&T football.”
Hart will be contracted for two years, while the TTFA is still engaged with Beenhakker in finalising the length of his service, which will be longer than the two-month period reported in earlier stories.
Hart also expressed a desire to retain former head coach Hutson Charles, as well as a number of other current staff members.
“I would like to make the transition as smooth as possible especially this close to the Gold Cup,” said Hart.
“I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Hutson and we are of the same accord in our approach to how the upcoming training camp will be organised,” he added.
Current plans are for Hart to arrive in T&T before the June 23 training camp report date, while Beenhakker will arrive a week later and travel with the team to the Gold Cup.
Of his appointment, Beenhakker said: “The approach taken by the TTFA establishes a long-term and substantive strategy that will positively impact the structure of the national programmess while at the same time establishes an excellent head coach in Mr Hart for some time to come.”