President of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) Raymond Tim Kee said Blatter’s resignation was no surprise in the wake of the allegations of financial impropriety by his secretary general. Tim Kee said Blatter “did the honourable thing.”
Tim Kee spoke with reporters before meeting with Sancho at the Parliament.
He said T&T voted for Blatter’s challenger at last week’s Fifa election. He said that was not because of any concerns about Blatter’s leadership but only because he (Blatter) had said the previous term would have been his last as Fifa head.
Tim Kee said Blatter’s re-election bid “was a surprise to many people.”
He said Blatter won the election because of the support of the African and most Caribbean countries because of what he did for the respective nations.
Looking to the new Fifa executive, Tim Kee said UEFA president Michel Platini was now tipped to replace Blatter.
Tim Kee said with Blatter’s resignation “it is an open race again.”
He said with Platini’s expected return to contest the post “what I understand is that Europe really wants to control football and that is a kind of sore thumb.”
Commenting on all the allegations against Fifa officials, Tim Kee said: “They were not made in the administration of Fifa or Concacaf, those (were) things that happened before they reached in the administration.”
He said in the wake of all the investigations taking place and “when you have the whole of the United States security agencies digging up, and they are joined by the Swiss—the British were doing it all the time—and they found nothing, something was either going right or wrong.”
He said on that basis “you have to give the accused the privilege of the benefit of the doubt.”
Tim Kee said he was not aware “that something was wrong with the (Fifa) administration, there maybe some compliance issues.”
Asked if the administration was not aware of any backroom deals, Tim Kee said: “Yes, I am saying that.”
Reminded that Fifa officials have made certain allegations of wrongdoing, Tim Kee said: “People just like to run their mouth without evidence.”
He said while many were saying “Blatter was guilty, people with the investigative capabilities have said they have found nothing.”
He said he had been the victim of many untrue claims as well.
Tim Kee said those experiences “have caused me to empathise with people who are accused without information from the accuser.”
He said Blatter’s resignation should not affect the Concacaf region.