Essex Outfielder : The Unofficial Essex CCC Forum
Club Administration => Club Administration => Topic started by: nat on July 19, 2021, 09:26:37 AM
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Well well well. A big promotion for him, from 'assistant secretary' at the MCC.
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Could be a good thing.
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At least he knows the club. How old is he? He seemed to be at Lords for ages.
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At least he knows the club. How old is he? He seemed to be at Lords for ages.
56.
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Could be a good thing.
'Could' be many things.
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Could be a good thing.
'Could' be many things.
Give him a chance - I remember a gutsy batsman not afraid to give an opinion.
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Perhaps the delay was that the committee asked if he can play T20 cricket ?
Welcome return, best wishes in his appointment.
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Smacks of jobs for the boys doesn't it? A Hundred ball acolyte as well, just what we need. But hey, he was a good batter once upon a time so there is that...
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Smacks of jobs for the boys doesn't it? A Hundred ball acolyte as well, just what we need. But hey, he was a good batter once upon a time so there is that...
Yep that's my initial feeling.
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Smacks of jobs for the boys doesn't it? A Hundred ball acolyte as well, just what we need. But hey, he was a good batter once upon a time so there is that...
How do you know he supports the 16.4? His role might have demanded he did and that prompted him to join us.
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Smacks of jobs for the boys doesn't it? A Hundred ball acolyte as well, just what we need. But hey, he was a good batter once upon a time so there is that...
How do you know he supports the 16.4? His role might have demanded he did and that prompted him to join us.
Well I agree that it smacks of a typical Essex move, but he has been outside the club's inner circle for years. Don't forget that he left because of his being overlooked for a typical yes man as captain back ib the 1990s.
Certainly we shall see if he was a genuine proponent of franchise cricket or just a fellow traveller at the MCC. Hope it is the latter.
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Personally, I see this as a positive appointment, following twenty years of incompetent old boys, or those who clearly weren't up to the role.
In Peter Edwards' era, the Club did not appoint a CEO, it only migrated to professional sport in the decade that followed. However to all intents and purposes it was a role that PE performed, brilliantly.
As others have identified, yes John Stephenson is an old boy, he was also a member of the most successful ECCC team in their history.
However, he has experienced cricket life outside of the millennium onwards incompetence of the Essex CCC administrative bubble and patently performed well over more than a decade and a half.....unlike ECCC, where as long as your face fits and you are good mates with the captain, you can stay in post as long as you want, irrespective of performance!
He also had the courage to leave Essex, for Hampshire, when he was overlooked for captain in the mid-nineties.
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Apologies for the pay wall, but here’s a nice piece for those trying to absolve Stephenson of any responsibility over the 16.4 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/07/19/strong-mcc-could-have-killed-hundred-alas-powerless-servile/
He’ll fit in nicely here. Clearly an expert at keeping his mouth shut and falling into line.
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Good luck to the guy. He has the advantage that many of us will have good memories of him from back in the day. And good to have someone from outside the current Essex bubble.
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He is a nice guy with some steel to go with it. He will be responsive to members which his predecessor could not be accused of being ( he seemed to leave all that with the Chairman). He may well have bowed to the inevitable re. the hundred but if he was that enamoured he would have stayed where he was rather than move to one of the counties presumably destined for the chop in the long run as we do not have an international ground. He is Essex through and through - not always a good thing true- but he will certainly want what's best for the County here on in, in my view.
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I'd be careful about letting nostalgia get in the way - the rot set in during the 1990s under Peter Edwards' watch. Great servant to the club in terms of marketing and generally keeping the members happy, but the likes of Stanley and Knight could see the writing on the wall...
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I'd be careful about letting nostalgia get in the way - the rot set in during the 1990s under Peter Edwards' watch. Great servant to the club in terms of marketing and generally keeping the members happy, but the likes of Stanley and Knight could see the writing on the wall...
I take your main thrust, Andy. As you know I am a fierce critic of the way No Change Essex continue to be mismanaged for rather too long now.
However, I think there needs to be a recognition that the forces at work that have shaped Essex CCC were a clear demarcation of what happened after Edwards' early and untimely passing. A Club that had always been Cinderella's prior to 1979, (NB. The year PE joined the Club.), found success and retained it for around 13 years.
By circa 2000, Essex were in the post Gooch slump, where poor decision making over key issues such as captaincy appointments, were laid bare. The likes of Prichard, still had the view of success, having been part of it. In hindsight he was clearly not captaincy material. But, it was the huge shadow cast by GG, his methods and acolytes that continued to affect decision making and produce a timidity to do anything differently.
As you note, it led to the core of the batting line-up, Stephenson, Knight, Shahid; players who would have made ECCC a much more competitive side in the mid-late nineties and into the new millennium.
But the inability to face up to the real world and move on has been and in my opinion, continues to influence how ECCC are administered.
Without Gooch's weight of runs, ECCC became way too dependent upon Stuart Law. However, one disruptive and jealous individual in the dressing room didn't like that and set about trying to reset, back to around 1985...except that by then all the success had disappeared.
But, hey if the Club continued to do things as it was in Fletcher and Gooch's era, then it would all 'magically come back'. I'm convinced that was the thinking. That took another fifteen years!
I think JPS will be good for the Club, I agree with Pablo, that he will use his intelligence and listen to the members and supporters and move away from this dismissive arrogance of; 'don't question us, we know best' attitude that has plagued ECCC for just a little too long. If you want the people that support your Club on your side, you need to start listening to them. I think Stephenson will recognise that and do so.
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who was that individual? irani? or pritch?
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When the rot set in, and it started when Peter Edwards was declining due to his health. I used to make the statement frequently, you have not played the game at that level, so you cannot have an opinion. I did not believe it of course, it was just so the people who did believe it where shown up as how stupid they were.
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who was that individual? irani? or pritch?
If the shoe fits...
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who was that individual? irani? or pritch?
If the shoe fits...
Ahhhhhh