without a dream
Well-Known Member
I've tried to read around a bit before commenting to try and get a more balanced view.
IMO Flower was essentially England's Mancini, came in, kicked them all into shape but then as soon as results slide the players start to kick off about how overbearing he was, it's not worth the hassle if the results aren't good enough. His complaints range from incredibly pretty to pretty serious, this is the bit where he seems most 'whiney' to me. He should have some pretty serious questions to answer about Trott.
On 'the clique' there clearly is one. Do they bully, I'm not sure. The stuff about apologising for catches seems petty from both sides, I've always apologised when I drop a catch or, in football, misplace a pass, demanding someone says sorry seems petty but so does not saying sorry in the first place. The twitter account clearly affected him a lot and I thought it had emerged that it was Broad's mate behind that? If it's affected him as much as he says there should have been disciplinary action taken over that. I'll wait to see if he mentions how he treated James Taylor in the book...
Prior, I just don't get. Even journalists who've been very pro-KP on twitter just don't buy this. He's chirpy and aggressive in the field but they apparently can't find anyone who says he's anything other than a top bloke and a great professional and that he was key in getting KP back into the side post 'textgate'. It seems utterly bizarre to give him such a character assassination.
It's good to finally have his view in the open but as ever I think the truth is somewhere inbetween this and the ECB version.
IMO Flower was essentially England's Mancini, came in, kicked them all into shape but then as soon as results slide the players start to kick off about how overbearing he was, it's not worth the hassle if the results aren't good enough. His complaints range from incredibly pretty to pretty serious, this is the bit where he seems most 'whiney' to me. He should have some pretty serious questions to answer about Trott.
On 'the clique' there clearly is one. Do they bully, I'm not sure. The stuff about apologising for catches seems petty from both sides, I've always apologised when I drop a catch or, in football, misplace a pass, demanding someone says sorry seems petty but so does not saying sorry in the first place. The twitter account clearly affected him a lot and I thought it had emerged that it was Broad's mate behind that? If it's affected him as much as he says there should have been disciplinary action taken over that. I'll wait to see if he mentions how he treated James Taylor in the book...
Prior, I just don't get. Even journalists who've been very pro-KP on twitter just don't buy this. He's chirpy and aggressive in the field but they apparently can't find anyone who says he's anything other than a top bloke and a great professional and that he was key in getting KP back into the side post 'textgate'. It seems utterly bizarre to give him such a character assassination.
It's good to finally have his view in the open but as ever I think the truth is somewhere inbetween this and the ECB version.