Captain and coach versus chairman at Leicestershire CCC
As Leicestershire endures a poor season of cricket, the county team’s problems have spilled across both sides of the boundary rope as discord between club chairman Neil Davidson and captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Matthew-Hoggard-c1926 and head coach Tim Boon has entered the public domain.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Leicestershire-c807 currently sit an uninspiring sixth on the County Championship division two table, and are dead last in the Clydesdale Bank 40: Group C, having won just two matches from the nine they’ve played. The Friends Provident t20 was a bust too, as they finished seventh of nine teams in the north group, with six wins and nine losses for the season.
Their on-field woes, however, have now been compounded by what has become a public spat between the leader of the board and the captain and coach of the team, with a letter signed by Hoggard and Boon, among other playing staff, calling for Davidson’s resignation due to the chairman’s alleged interference in team issues sitting in the centre of this sorry mess.
"That's an allegation I'd contest very strongly. I've no intention of going,” Davidson has told BBC Radio Leicester. "It's not for cricketers or employees to determine who is the chairman."
Since the contents of the letter became public, former England Test cricketer Hoggard has issued a statement through the Professional Cricketers' Association stating his disappointment that the letter had entered the public domain, but also saying that he and Boon expressed the views of the club’s players and staff to the board and asked them to act on those concerns.
While it’s the revelations of the captain and coach’s dissatisfaction with Davidson that have been the focus of the most recent headlines, the trouble has been brewing for a while now, with the resignation of Leicestershire chief executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/David-Smith-c53226 at the end of June providing an inkling that something may be awry at Grace Road. Smith later revealed differences of opinion with Davidson and the board over selection issues were behind his decision to step down from his post.
There’s no doubt that the sooner the club can put the whole saga, and season behind them, the better for all involved.
The question is whether it can be done without more leadership blood being spilled. In light of the current acrimony, that doesn’t seem likely.
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