Butt's Regime : Let the curtains be drawn

[Ali888]

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2009-w...2009/spo.htm#1

Butt's Regime: Let the curtains be drawn

By Dr Nauman Niaz

Ijaz Butt, Yawar Saeed, Intikhab Alam, and Mr Mohammad Naeem, a Chartered Accountant andChairman PCB's brother-in-law are presently the cricket glitterati. Collectively, their experience and ages run close to three hundred years. PCB or an 'Old Home' in the making; we had to minus Saleem Altaf, almost 65 years of age from the list since he had not really been given a place in the coveted company. They had been in power since October 2008. And with the stories of their flair, flamboyance, uprightness and hard-nosed attitude the PCB, by now, should have been able to stand on its own; ironically we missed one very important link, it was being run by people who were barely able to stand on their own. It's not like having some pun intended, I have serious doubts this gingerly administration would last?

PCB messed the World Cup 2011 issue, though in his formative years as Chairman of the PCB, Butt wasn't really given a conducive environment, his apathy coming to terms with his new role as a cricket leader, his first clumsy step towards taking on the ICC and starting a cold war, he has been naÔve and innocent at heart believing that he could still put his weight through. I am particularly severe on Butt's regime, because it came something as a shock to me to learn how deeply insecure the PCB were about their own status and stature in the global market. I did not and still do not believe that the BCCI-ICC nexus represents a clear and present danger to the PCB, I do not believe there is an ideological conspiracy, I do not believe that BCCI at cricket's world forum is a ripe fruit to fall, but irrational, ill-timed, sporadically illogical and persistently apathetic management of critical issues have really stung and stung hard.

Butt tried collecting top stars in his regime, and gave an impression that he wanted the PCB to be run by high-profiled cricket professionals. Subsequently, he started relying on people in the inner circle that actually circled him into isolation. I am surprised how little confidence these elderly gentlemen have in them since people like Abdul Qadir, Aamer Sohail and even Javed Miandad were treated brusquely. I do not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to discover that this star cast was no accepted in the mainstream PCB as anything approaching equality. I think, Butt is ending into a pretty luckless and an isolated being.

Butt's biggest problem being at cricket's helm has been a very hostile environment, international issues, a uniquely eccentric and an unpredictable national team supplemented by his own erratic and more often radical decisions, and the most unwarranted sultry arrogance. He has tried relying, one more too often on non-technocrats such as his brother-in-law Mohammad Naeem. He had been impatient with and skeptical about his Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf and the ex-chief selector Abdul Qadir and his former Director of the National Cricket Academy and Game Development Aamer Sohail. Butt never evolved a management team and seemingly listened to what pleased him.

His was a standardised requirement to properly perform a specific job. It could encompass acombination of knowledge, skills and behaviour utilized to improve performance. It is always different, more generally, to be well qualified, having the ability to perform a specific role. Butt needed to capitulate on ICC's hostile stance towards the PCB, instead of using skills in influence and negotiation, he tried holding the bull by the horns whilst he was slipping into compost and with him has gone the integrity and power-base of Pakistan Cricket.

Dryly, the methods used to let go Abdul Qadir and treatment meted out to Aamer Sohail, whilst other meekly directors continue, Butt must have known that a person possesses a competence as long as the skills, abilities, and knowledge that constitute that competence are a part of them, enabling the person to perform effective action within a certain workplace environment.

Observing, though from a distance, Butt hasn't been able to gauge the requirements of top-tier management and quite evidently, in a broad set his radical decision making depicted extreme actions and emotions including self-harm. One example was regarding his inability or abstinence to take people to task who were responsible for providing security to Sri Lanka's team. There had to be someone from the PCB required to liaison with the Government of Punjab and like it happens in army, even a if truck turtles the Commanding Officer goes home. It was evidence enough of Butt's self-destructive behaviour using it as a coping mechanism, when things got too much. It is quite visible that he has lost it and now it is time for a change at the Pakistan Cricket Board.

It is time that the Pakistani game is given due respect. The PCB needs to re-organise and promoting the needs and goals of cricket management and to foster a propitious environment to develop future products for the national team. And unlike Butt, there has to be someone from the crowd to come in the seat of power meeting all the needs of a modernized sport: cultural, social, academic, professional, political, spiritual and personal. And in a broader perspective, it doesn't have to be about developing local resource and product it has to be done viewing Pakistan as an important cog in subcontinent's wheel. A sense of familia to be embedded in the very roots of Asia and PCB has to become proactive helping the state of the game in the region.

PCB could still flourish and become a stronger organisation, a force to reckon with within and outside Pakistan only we are eager to make this happen. We have to look forward to building on the issues we have had, but realistically cricketing alumni presently running the show has to bow out as soon as possible. And the alumni should be asked to revert to their television lounges and draped in English attire, a puff here and a puff there, they should try figuring out the ridiculousness of their rugged philosophies. It should be curtains for them and Butt, now.

[Inswinger]

We really need a proper and experienced administrator for the chairman's seat. Ehsan Mani is the perfect choice. We need a coach who will let Younus handle most of the media and the talks with the players. I think Intikhab is unintentionally undermining Younus at certain times with his comments to the media.

And please get rid of that Altaf fellow!!

[KA$H]

for balance some posititves do need to be mentioned, although they are few and far between:

- organising the future home test series abroad (i.e playing in England)
- the monetary compensation from the 2011 WC venue pull out
- the reinstatement of YK as captain
- Pak team winning the World20/20 during his watch
- the relatively "quick" reintroduction of the ICL players

[Ali888]

any positives have come about in spite of them not because of them


e.g.

-ECB (as Atherton said today) were behind plan to get Pakistan to play in England
-monetary compensation is normal if contract is unilaterally broken
- Younus was only game in town
- Pak team won thru play of Afridi and emergence of once in generation player Aamer nothing to do with PCB
- ICL players have been reintroduced by other teams

[shane]

um why were these curtains not drawn when Pakistan won the T20 cup?

[Ali888]

because since that one-off they have failed,

FAILED to take that momentum and use it wisely to build the team and support younus

FAILED the future Academy stars like Mo Irfan by expelling Sohail or making his job impossible

FAILED to deal with internal team divisions

too many other incidents to mention frankly

[shane]

And what if they win the next 3 ODI's? Will all be forgiven then?

[cricket_crazy]

every chairman we get is corrupt so we might as well get some stability and let Mr. Butt stay

[godzilla]

Originally Posted by Ali888 because since that one-off they have failed, FAILED to take that momentum and use it wisely to build the team and support younus FAILED the future Academy stars like Mo Irfan by expelling Sohail or making his job impossible FAILED to deal with internal team divisions too many other incidents to mention frankly

i dont know why you guys get your knickers in a twist so easily. theres hardly any evidence for any of the accusations all of us keep making.

who knows the pcb side of the qadir or sohail stories? who knows the icc side of the ftp, and the realities of who was willing to play pakistan?

answer = no one. so the accusations may be right, or they may be completely wrong, we'll just more than likely never know.

the reality of what we do know is that theres no wasim, waqar, inzamam, miandad or imran being purposefully sidelined. pakistan, depsite everyone talking of some magical invisible bundle of talent, is short of talent. what we have is a collection of very similar players, with very little to choose between them - evidenced by their collective results.

as much as im unimpressed with the pcb, i just dont think any significant changes would have resulted in a different result to a thoroughly mediocre team.

[sali]

My favorite and probably very qualified person to run the PCB is Asif Iqbal. He is a cricketer himself and has good administrative capabilities. He should run our PCB.

[iafzal]

Originally Posted by sali My favorite and probably very qualified person to run the PCB is Asif Iqbal. He is a cricketer himself and has good administrative capabilities. He should run our PCB.

I wish he was Zardari's chamcha