John Claughton, the chairman of the cricket committee of Warwickshire, quit at the end of last week. I have mixed feelings about it as I write this piece. On the one hand I feel very happy that a person who was clearly not suited to the job has left. I remember vividly his performance at the watershed members forum in September, when he insisted the club was making progress and looked stunned and somewhat lost as his statements were greeted with howls of derision and heckling. He was involved fairly strongly in the (in hindsight) disastrous appointment of Mark Greatbatch and seemed blind to the coach and team's failings throughout last season.
On the other hand I feel somewhat sorry that an individual in a voluntary position has clearly had a rough ride and has had to quit a role at a club he seems to care for.
I would say that although being a volunteer, the chairman of cricket cannot be held to account in the same way as say a chief executive or coach, who are handsomely rewarded for delivering success and therefore have a right to expect to cop flak when they fail to deliver that which they are paid for. However being a volunteer in itself is no defence against receiving criticism for doing a poor job. Equally where a voluntary position affects others, those with a vested interest have a right to expect at the least competence from the individual in question.
I think the criticism he received at the members forum in September was disproportionate, and my general feelings about that meeting are documented elsewhere in this blog. I feel he should have expected some criticism, but the manner in which some members expressed their feelings at that meeting bordered on disgraceful and I can therefore understand how he could then feel he had to resign in order to preserve his reputation at large.
It is a shame that he ended his tenure on quite such a sour note. I feel that he probably should have gone following the results last season, so the outcome is correct. However it is a disappointment that his end had to come about in fairly acrimonious circumstances. I think there are some people who were responsible for some of the more confrontation behaviour at the forum who have no reason to feel proud at having forced Claughton out in such a way.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Chairman of Cricket Committee Quits
Friday, 28 September 2007
All Change
Well, I go away on holiday for a couple of weeks and everything changes.
There is no doubt that Mark Greatbatch was no longer the right person to lead the team, if he ever was, and his departure is a blessed relief for almost all Warwickshire fans. Colin Povey has taken a brave decision in appointing Ashley Giles as director of cricket, given that he has virtually no qualifications, or experience of coaching at the highest level. It also seems slightly odd that only a few months ago Ashley was trying to forge a fledgling career in broadcasting. There is also a nagging doubt that Povey has gone for the popular choice to boost his own stock with supporters, rather than risk a prolonged hunt for a more qualified applicant. He may also have felt the pressure coming from the bungled attempts to land several players and felt a long application process could have led to more embarrassment as various coaches indicated they weren't interested. But of course this is all speculation.
Having said all this, I am of the opinion that Giles has never done anything without putting all his dedication into it, and I feel he has the professionalism and love for the club to make up for his lack of experience. I hope he'll be as great a success as a coach for Warwickshire as he was as a player. He has given a typically candid interview to the BBC, that can be watched here.
Today Warwickshire have announced an really big coup in landing Allan Donald as first team bowling coach. His exact role has not been clarified, but there is speculation that he will have a much wider brief than with England. Possibly being responsible for scouting as well as developing talent in the second team. Where Giles' appointment is a bit of a leap into the unknown, Donald is already a proven performer as a coach at international level and I can only hope he will have the same impact at Warwickshire as he had with England. With the likes of Anyon, Woakes, Daggett, Gronewald and Tahir the raw materials are there and the hope is that AD can mould them into consistent performers.
Although the season is barely over there is already cause for some optimism for next season. The next step will be for Warwickshire to land a quality overseas player who is available for the majority of the season. As well as someone with experience to take care of the batting side of the coaching, alongside Neil Abberley, who although an excellent coach, can surely not shoulder the whole batting coaching on his own.
Finally today the groups have been announced for the re-re-vamped one-day cup. Warwickshire are in "Midlands and East"; with Ireland. Make of that what you will.
Friday, 14 September 2007
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Division Two
So it was finally confirmed this afternoon that Warwickshire were going to be playing in Division Two of the County Championship, a mere three years after winning the competition. Although not a surprise by any means, given their recent form, the relegation is still a bitter pill to swallow.
There is now little doubt that Mark Greatbatch will leave his position as director of coaching, the only thing that remains to be seen is the timing of this change. Greatbatch again stated his desire to remain in the job and said he would be disappointed to not be coaching the club next year.
It is unclear whether he still genuinely feels he has a job to do at the club and whether he can contribute, or whether this is an example of the continuing "football-isation" of cricket - With an under performing head coach unwilling to do the honourable thing and resign, and risk missing out on a lucrative "golden handshake" package when fired. Greatbatch still has a year to run on his contract and it does not make financial sense for him to quit. However in staying on, he has arguably ruined his chances of employment elsewhere. If he had walked a month ago after Scarborough he could have claimed a player revolt, lack of board support, any old cock-and-bull story and retained some kind of credibility. However in sticking around and proving beyond any doubt that he was incapable of reversing the slide he started, he has shown himself to be completely incompetent as a coach and very unlikely to gain other employment, in England at least.
Let us hope that there is better news to follow in the coming months as there is no doubt that a section of the membership, your correspondent included, will be monitoring the announcement regarding the coaching and playing staff with interest, with a view to whether they renew their membership or not.
Monday, 10 September 2007
Thoughts on the Member's Forum
Mark Greatbatch is quoted in The Post today saying:
Asked whether he was surprised by the hostile reception he received at the club 'forum' last week, he countered: "Not really. There were some good questions, but there was a lot of beer drunk beforehand and there were some idiots there."
I've seen this has been greeted with some derision on the Edgbaston Forum but I have to say he wasn't far wide of the mark. I am no Greatbatch fan and to be fair I don't think there was that much drunkenness (apart from one bloke at the back, by the door), but I was shocked by the behaviour of some members. It wasn't that it was unacceptable or anything of that nature, it was just so counter-productive.
I know that Dennis Amiss originally proposed a cut off of 8.15 before having to relent, but he did repeatedly say everyone who wanted to would have their say and I think this was borne out - at the end there was no-one who had their hand up. It therefore seemed to me completely unnecessary and idiotic to shout things out while people on the panel were trying to speak. I was really surprised that there was a sizeable minority that clear either did know, or had forgotten, how to behave in a meeting. That emotions were running high is no excuse, I went to the forum to hear a panel of WCCC staff answer some tough questions, I did not go to listen to people heckle them. Sadly I was disappointed on both counts.
I feel that part of the problem was the general lack of organisation and focus, which when feelings were running high just contributed to the feeling of "them" on the panel and "us" in the audience. The result was very few probing questions, members of the panel cut-off mid answer because some idiot in the audience didn't agree with what they were saying, and a general let-off for the people in charge. I'm sure this won't be a popular view, but on the remote chance someone at the meeting reads and disagrees with me, I would say; imagine you have stood up to ask a question and are constantly interrupted by either other members or even Dennis Amiss shouting "rubbish" at you. They may have a point, but its just not an acceptable way to behave.
Going onto the questions;
* The car parking is a shambles
* It took me half-an-hour to get out the Priory Road entrance after the ODI
* Why were their no tank-tops in the shop during the ODI, when the whether was quite cold?
* Will there be a reduction in membership if we are relegated?
* Why was a whole car park reserved for SKY during televised games?
* Why do members have to pay a booking fee on other tickets?
* Why wasn't the "greatest ever" match publicised more?
* Are we donating money to charity for the event?
Were these people having a laugh? We are facing a double relegation and some bloke is moaning about the club missing out on tank-top royalties and having to drive round the block before being able to park!
OK, so I've got that off my chest, but what to do? Well I have two very simple solutions.
i) The members forum is run by the members. At the moment the club organises the event, which in itself is fine, but it is chaired by a club representative (this time DA, but I believe Povey would normally take it). Instead get a sensible member to act as chair, we must among the members have people experienced in chairing meetings. If one of them took it they would have more respect from the members and I believe would be better placed to keep more control than someone perceived as part of the problem. It may also be necessary to introduce a clear, simple code of conduct so every member knows what is expected of them; although I'd be in favour of only doing this if necessary.
ii) Get people to submit in questions beforehand to the chair, or a committee of members. They can then select the ones to be asked to help ensure a smooth meeting, where we as the members focus what we want to say. By all means the most relevant person on the panel can provide written answers to any other questions that aren't asked, possibly publishing these on the website. There would also be an open floor later on, but I anticipate the number of pressing questions should be reduced by the organised question section.
If we had done this for the last forum then we could have given Povey, Greatbatch and the others a real rough ride and could have got some answers, instead of missing an opportunity.