The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts has given his commitment to embattled General Secretary Dalton Wint that he will be fully compensated once he tenders his resignation to the federation.
In a signed letter dated June 6, 2022, addressed to Wint, the JFF president said: “Upon the receipt of your resignation from the post of General Secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation, this letter serves to confirm the commitment of the Jamaica Football Federation to compensate you in full as per your Employment Agreement with the Jamaica Football Federation for the period January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023.”
Wint, a staunch ally of Ricketts, came under pressure after the Reggae Boyz demanded his resignation on Saturday evening following the botched travel plans to get the delegation home after their 1-1 result away in Paramaribo. The players were adamant that if the former Manchester Football Association President was not removed from his post with the JFF, they would not take the field for Tuesday’s second game in the Nations League.
A voice note of a brief interaction between JFF President Michael Ricketts and members of the Reggae Boyz team which went viral indicated that Ricketts agreed with the players’ call for Wint’s sacking.
In fact, upon arrival in Kingston on Monday morning, Ricketts acknowledged that urgent action was necessary to resolve the impasse.
“The situation was untenable, to say the least, but we will meet this morning and deal with it with some level of urgency because we understand that this is the nation’s business, so we just have to be very serious with what we do and certainly by 11 o’clock we will meet and do a press release right after,” he had told the media.
But during a meeting of the board of directors on Monday evening, Wint was telephoned into the meeting at which time he signaled his intention to resign.
However, he hadn’t given a timeline for his resignation and later in the night he demanded a compensation package up to the end of his contract in December 2023, as first reported by CNW Network.
He is said to earn J$500,000 monthly, which puts his severance package at J$9.5million.
A source close to the federation told CNW Network that up until Tuesday the matter was not discussed at the board of directors’ level, and the person questioned the JFF’s ability to commit to such payment at this time.