27/10/2023
GOLDEN JAGUARS : WAYNE FORDE GFF UNPROFESSIONAL
We the players of the Guyana National Football Team( Golden Jaguars) are forced to highlight our plight under the Wayne Forde led administration of the Guyana Football Federation. Last week, Mr. Forde has done a big interview taking credit for the achievements of the national team in the current Concacaf Nations League and in his usual manner makes himself star of the show. His promotion of self is enabled by a weak administration who allows him and his Technical Director Bryan Joseph to run the GFF as a two man show.
We wish to point out the following :-
1. The GFF owes players for engagements since August of this year with no official word from the GFF . They send a letter before each engagement stating what the match fees and other financial arrangements will be, which we must sign before travel. But after that the GFF never meets the deadline for payment and no one in the GFF have the courtesy (not the President, the General Secretary, the Technical Director ) to communicate with the players that payment will be late.
Instead it is always the Manager Rawle Adams and Coach Jamaal Shabazz who has to come and speak to us and pacify a situation.
So much so that unknown to the public if Coach Shabazz did not convince us to focus on the game and he will ensure we get paid before November, the Golden Jaguars would not have played.
2. Mr Forde has signed a MOU with a group Blackpool to bring "top players to the program". This was another PR stunt by Mr. Forde and opportunity for him to star.
Those of us based in England laughed at the release since no Premier League player will come to play for Guyana under the current administrative conditions.
Flight arrangements are terribly done because the travel agent is always owed. Sometimes you get your itinerary hours before leaving whether it's from Guyana, UK or North America.
The uniform situation is precarious since the GFF does not possess the skill to negotiate a proper uniform or kit sponsorship deal.
The team is never paid on time always waiting months after the game with the GFF meeting no deadlines.
So instead of creating a more professional environment Mr. Forde is looking to bring in Premier league players with his administration operating in amateur mode.
3. Another big factor is that while Mr Forde uses every opportunity to promote himself, very few people in the public know the players. There is no plan by the GFF to market the players be they home or abroad. Yet if you check the media over the last four years Wayne Forde is the star of the show.
4. Local league football is at its lowest with the GFF running a one round league where each team played only nine matches. Now they running a league cup where each team plays four matches. This puts the locally based players at a serious disadvantage when it comes to team selection. Under Mr. Forde's administration in 8 years Guyana has played less league football than under the Fifa appointed Normalization Committee in two years.
5. We feel that if the Guyana Golden Jaguars are to achieve its full potential Mr. Forde may have to step down or make the Guyana Football Federation a more professionally run organization.
As players who give our best for Guyana we think we deserve better than what the current GFF administration is given.
Senior Players Representative of the Guyana Golden Jaguars
