Warner ... displeased about Dwight Yorke's recall to Sunderland. - file

LONDON, (CMC)

Jack Warner has blasted the English Football Association and English clubs for failing to show enough respect for Caribbean national teams.

The FIFA vice-president and president of CONCACAF took a swipe at the English football firmament in an interview with The Voice newspaper.

"The region does not get much respect," Warner said. "English clubs do not respect when we ask for our own players."

A row erupted when Sunderland forward and Trinidad & Tobago captain Dwight Yorke withdrew from the Soca Warriors' squad to face the United States in a key World Cup qualifier last month.

Disrespectful

Warner, also the president of the Caribbean Football Union and a special adviser to the T&T Football Federation, accused manager Roy Keane of being disrespectful for allegedly withdrawing Yorke from the match, and the manner in which it was done, by text message.

But Keane, in response, described Warner, who could prove a vital figure if England are to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup because CONCACAF hold three of the 24 votes, as "a clown and a disgrace".

"I had a run-in with the guy from Sunderland (manager Roy Keane), and I did not want to go down to his level," Warner said. "But it showed me the sort of views that they have about us.

"They consider us to be irritants at best. But more and more of our footballers are proving themselves, which is most gratifying."

Growing steadily

Warner believes that football in the region is growing steadily, and feels that the performance of several Caribbean players through the English leagues is testament to that fact.

"All that is needed is some degree of coaching, which is coming, but our ability has been there from birth," he said.

"The world now respects Barack Obama and our time will come in the world of football.

"The sport is on the way up in the Caribbean and will be for some time. One of the reasons for that is the effort being made by the likes of Digicel in terms of sponsorship for the region. FIFA, too, has given every country some funding.

"The ambitions of each country in the region is very high and the administration in those countries is better than it has ever been. Countries have their own offices, and don't need to conduct business from their cars as they used to."

Warner also believes the achievement of Jamaica reaching the FIFA World Cup 10 years ago in France, and his native T&T reaching the World Cup two years ago in Germany also bear out his claims.