The Guyana Football Federation (GFF), recently appointed, Technical Director Claude Bolton (CB) spoke one-on-one with Chronicle Sport’s Rawle Toney (RT), where the Canadian of Guyanese parentage spoke about his plan for the sport and how he intends to return the Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s senior Men’s National Team, to being one of the top teams in the Caribbean and CONCACAF.

RT: Based on my research, being one of the most qualified TD that we would’ve had in the past decade, some would say that qualifications doesn’t equate to success, so how would you be balancing that to show that you’re not just qualified by academia, but by your knowledge of the game as well. How would you answer them?

CB: The people would say that, they have a certain perspective that I can’t answer for, but you can call anyone of the people that I’ve ever worked for and they’ll tell you that everything that I’ve set out to do or put in place has come to fruition and I have left all on good terms because of the success of the development programme as well as having success at all levels.

I woud say that Seawall Football Club was very unexpected to be able to play well and prove that it could happen.
If you ask the players from the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) that trained with me under my short stint, I think they would say that they understood that certain things they have never experienced before when we have the camps.

At Youth level, which I must say that youth development is an important part of this because no full or complete youth development was ever put in place for the 20 years I’ve been around Guyana’s football.

We had something call ‘Initiative 14’. In 2001 when some people said you can’t have a long term plan for Guyana, I said, give Guyana 14 years before you think about making a run at the World Cup. Now it may be coincidence in some eyes, but the 2014 World Cup qualifiers was our most successful run, so, it was already a vision there and we still made that run by putting in place some of the things that were in ‘Initiative 14’.

Now imagine if all the things were put in place from (Initiative 14), doesn’t matter if it was another Technical Director, but Guyana needs structure that takes precedence over the people that implement it. What’s missing in Guyana is any structured plan that’s agreed to, that should be followed based on the expertise that are put in place.

RT: There’s always an issue about money in Guyana. Some people believe that FIFA’s money is enough but sometimes it’s not even sufficient. Is this a question you would’ve asked prior to taking this job because though you have a plan, it would take funding to help execute?

CB: The advantage I have is 20 years of Guyanese football which allows me to move with the limited funding that we have presently, so, yes those questions were asked that’s why I needed to come here for my interview.

They said that they were many people they couldn’t really afford, but, truth is, they couldn’t afford me either if I had really set my rate as a North American but knowing what you have and saying that you’ll work within those parameters.
What was asked is, are those funds going to be made available; is it going to be transparent; where the funding is, where those dollars are and when we say we’re going to pay for things, will the money be present at the time as oppose to saying we have money coming, so we can prioritize.

Who am I to critique the financial happenings of the past because I always use to hear money is coming so we can get this done, but now, I’m asking so I would like to know the money is there first so that we can move forward.

They are many things that can be done with no money aren’t being done in this country (Guyana). There’s discipline, standards, protocols; those don’t cost anything, yet they are still lacking, so, for any footballer, coach or fan to first turn to the money, we have an issue. Let us set the standards, the protocols in place first, then we could demand.

We also take this thing that football is some kind of backward sport and is for some uneducated bunch; that’s foolishness. But we need to have standards, and that’s free but with them, that what starts professionalism.

So when that player leaves here to go play in Trinidad, or sits on the bench of an MLS team, it’s not strange to them; it shouldn’t be strange that you have to work hard or you have to dress a certain way, or you have to show up on time, or you have to train X-amount of time in the week and no matter how good you are, you’re not playing this week if you didn’t change. Until we as a fraternity can change that, then we will have success.

RT: We’ve had a rocky period in the sport recently and following all the events as it unfolds in Guyana’s football and still wanting to be part of it; what does that say about Claude Bolton and what he could do for Guyana’s football?

CB: I think it says that I understand that as a country, we’re still a family and as a people before football and that for far too long, Guyanese have been slighted and misrepresented abroad and that football truly is not lip service, it’s a tool of social development where it can help people rise above many challenges.

It happens all over the world, we wouldn’t be the first to do it but we shouldn’t be counted out. What it also says about Claude Bolton is that I simply love Guyana, the game and our people. It also says that I trust that the turmoil, although sad, was necessary, as is any fight in a family to air out some of the issues, so what it has done, if anything, has given us an absolute clean slate to rebuild and start again.

RT: As we prepare to head into another World Cup campaign, they are top players in Europe who are capable of representing Guyana, but not necessarily are attracted to this football, as TD, what do you think you’ll bring to Guyana’s football to make them want to come and play?

CB: I think first it’s to have a plan so that we can then approach them, so to create that plan, we’ll need the input from those stakeholders and those facilitators and whoever the head coach will be, the staff around that and the GFF itself to say ok ‘what are the plans, so that we can articulate it to these players so that they can see that there will be some success and not just putting them on a field, and secondly, we can’t side step the finances involve with that.

I think Guyanese, no matter where they are, especially the ones born abroad, the pride is already there and those players in England and in Europe would be overwhelmed to put on the colours of their country and their heritage, it’s just for them to come to a safe environment; developmentally safe, so that they can get proper preparation and its more than just their presence that we’ll need.

RT: As compared to the rest of the region, every Caribbean Island/Country could identify some player that would’ve gone on to play in some of the World’s biggest leagues. What do you think is lacking from our structure where a player from the youth level can get that break internationally?

CB: The proper environment; one, we must play and tournaments are not the only way, there must be some kind of regiment or a regular playing structure. For each Island or countries in CONCACAF, it depends on when it’s a season and so forth but you must have that regular regiment or something that players look forward to every week.

Tournaments alone sometimes only bring out play, there’s no training involve there. Second, it’s coaching. We have people who are capable but don’t yet have the knowledge. People don’t know what they don’t know. Whenever you see the best team in Guyana, you say well, that’s the best football but that’s not necessarily the case.
When you look at Guyanese players physically, compare to some others, we’re bigger, stronger and faster naturally, so the other piece to that is nutrition and education. Smart players are created not only on the field and in schools.

That’s not to say that a player who doesn’t have a full education can’t be the best player, but its a different thing when you look at a player in Guyana on the field and say I want a bigger angle than this and that player doesn’t know what an angle means, so we must create not only technical players, but intelligent players.

We have players with vision and players who can compete with anybody in CONCACAF but without intelligence and a coaching environment and nutrition, you can’t sidestep the fact that we have to teach players how to eat properly; it can’t always be some rice and some chicken.

(By Rawle Toney)