County News

Glamorgan chairman attacks results

Cricinfo staff

September 6, 2007

What are your thoughts on Glamorgan's season? Have your say

Glamorgan are battling to keep Simon Jones at the club © Getty Images

Paul Russell, the Glamorgan chairman, has written a stinging review of the county's miserable season, saying that the team have "failed to meet even our lowest expectations".

Glamorgan have endured a shocking summer, recording two Championship wins and not a single one-day victory, and Russell insists that "there have been occasions, indeed many occasions, when we appear to have surrendered too tamely".

"My purpose in writing is not to catalogue performances of which we are all too aware," he said. "My purpose is rather to assure the club's members and supporters that both the executive management and the general committee do not consider the current position to be tenable and are working to address the challenge.

"We will be signing for next season an opening batsman and a strike bowler [one of whom will be our overseas player]," he said. "It is important that our members, supporters and sponsors understand that we are doing everything we can to address this challenge.

"The change to the cricket management structure and the release of funds with which to strengthen the squad with new players is the start of that process.

"We do not expect any overnight transformations. We do, however, expect the work we are doing now to bear fruit in the next few years."

Matthew Maynard was appointed the club's cricket manager in July, but Glamorgan's latest battle is in keeping hold of Simon Jones. Hampshire, whose coffers far outnumber those of Glamorgan, are just one county who are keen on signing Jones and it remains to be seen whether the Welsh club can match the rumoured six-figure offering from Southampton.

© Cricinfo

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Comments have now been closed for this article Problem seems to be that the team are either old faithfuls nearing retirement (Hemp, Croft, Wharf) or very promising youngsters maybe not quite ready yet (Harris, Waters, Wright, Rees, Maynard etc) Not too many in the middle, and many of the mid to late 20s group haven't come up to expectations (Cherry, Hughes, Watkins). Add in some long term injuries (Jones, Harrison, Harrison & Powell) and an underperforming overseas player and the results are not unexpected. There have been so many different sides picked that half the club probably have no idea when they will be playing or what position they will be batting. I do applaud the decision not to stuff the team with rent-a-South-African imports , a policy which is stunting the growth of many potential England players at other counties. Posted by merlin on September 06 2007, 19:40 PM GMT It's true that Glamorgan's season - and indeed their last two seasons - have been absolutely dreadful, but Mr Russell ought as the Chairman to take some responsibility for that. His concentration on the Cardiff ground development rather than the performance of the cricket team has contributed to the failings on the pitch. The selection of overseas players in the last two seasons has been disastrous, and in this season the choice of overseas player was determined by a philanthropic supporter rather than captain and coach - a ridiculous situation. The anti-Kolpak policy at a time when every other first class county has at least one Kolpak player is, however principled, bound to put Glamorgan at a disadvantage. I feel sorry for the younger players, some of them very talented, who have been badly let down by the management. Posted by severnsider on September 06 2007, 11:11 AM GMT Top ^

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