Bosses using 'player power' as cover-up
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
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Ed Smith, in the Daily Telegraph, says the recent upheavals in the England cricket team and Chelsea football club indicate how weak bosses are using "player power" as a convenient excuse.
It’s player power, we are told, that is the real problem. Almost any crisis can be blamed on the modern players, with their big egos and eye on the big bucks, the precious stars who only look after number one and don’t leave home without their entourage of agents and hangers-on. Which begs the real question: if players are so untrustworthy and selfish, why are they pandered to by executives, boards and owners?
Player power is nothing unless it is allowed to be. You don’t hear about player power at Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, or at Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, or in Warren Gatland’s Wales.
Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, admitted to having a “ring around” of the players before the removal of Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores. How many successful captains or coaches would have survived a “ring around” at the wrong moment?, Smith asks.
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo