By Andrew Warshaw
February 1 – Caribbean football officials meet in Cuba tomorrow (February 2) in a concerted drive to restore credibility for the region after the worst period in its history.
The Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) nine-man Normalisation Committee, formed in the wake of last year’s Trinidad and Tobago bribery scandal, hope to lay down a blueprint for fresh statutes in a desperate attempt to regain global trust and financial stability, both crushed in recent months.
“We simply have to move Caribbean forward in terms of sponsorship, partnerships and morale,” Normalisation Committee head Jeff Webb (pictured) told insideworldfootball.
The Havana meeting marks the first time all nine members of the Normalisation Committee have met since it was set up last year.
Webb is set to attend, as an observer, his first FIFA Executive Committee meeting next month, the first time in seven months the Caribbean region will be represented at the top table of football’s world governing body.
Webb is being touted as a future full-time President of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in succession to Jack Warner (pictured) who resigned over the cash-for-votes scandal that snared a string of other Caribbean delegates.
Webb, boss of the Cayman Islands Football Association, is keen to bring something positive to the FIFA table after the disgrace that has been heaped upon the area.
“The damage caused is unfathomable, it devastated the entire region,” said Webb.
It is understood that the CFU, run by Warner before his resignation, has no officially registered headquarters, one of the issues Webb and others are keen to resolve.
Another is the ongoing war of words between Warner and FIFA, privately viewed as a hindrance by the Normalisation Committee.
“We’ve been through an incredible time with a lot of fractions,” Webb said.
“People have had different agendas and that’s not good for potential sponsors.
“People have been hurt and a lot of lives have been changed.
“It’s now about trying to build bridges.
“There has to be a new chapter.
“We must, as administrators, have a responsibility to restore our region’s integrity.”
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