Posted by There are certainly occasions when Ian Botham is the answer.
If we were to ask, ‘which Eighties cricketer frequently showcased the now historic phenomenon of ‘brown armpits’?’ then his name might well come to mind.
If we were to ask you to name someone whose ability to shape cricket matches on the field was inversely proportional to his ability to speak logically about them off it, you could again tick the Beefy box with confidence.
However, if the questions were: “Who should be chairman of our board of directors as we seek to chart a course out of the financial dire straits in which we find ourselves?” then ‘Ian Botham’ seems a truly odd response.
Good on him though. Say what you like about the pig-headed blunderbuss of bombastic assertions, but he cares. As a commentator, he often cares too much. If he can bring somewhere around half the passion he shows when ranting about why the captain hasn’t got the opening bowlers on at the start of a session then that would be proportional for a role attempting to resuscitate a cricket club that is clearly held in the highest esteem by cricket supporters up and down the land.
No saying it’ll happen – but it might. More details in Ali Martin’s piece for The Guardian which we link to instead of the original source solely on the grounds that Ali shoe-horned in an excellent appraisal of Sir Beef’s approach to his day job somewhere in the middle of it.
The issue here is surely the role of the Chairman in Durham’s revised governance structure. If that role is specifically one of public-facing advocacy and helping the club to clinch support/sponsorships and the like, then Ian Botham is uniquely qualified to do the job and I’m sure he’ll do it well.
Ian Botham was a quintessential cricketing all-rounder as a player but is clearly not that as a cricket administrator.
I should imagine that part of the bail-out plan was a governance structure and balance of skills in the executive and non-executive team that has a very good chance of steering Durham through these murky waters to sustainable success on and off the field. Botham’s role was probably part of that plan.
Or am I imagining too much sense emerging from the ECB and Durham in these turbulent, existential circumstances?
I don’t know whether we have any Durhamites but is he a local legend up there in the same way he is in Somerset? He didn’t play for very long in Durham, not in the peak of his form, but he did mark that county’s arrival on the big stage. Or is he more a national legend who is available for local appropriation when the hour of destiny is upon them?
Are you confusing him with Ian Blackwell?
Reminds me of an early Stewart Lee piece ‘if Jesus is the answer, what is the question?’
Are you equating Sir Lord Beefy of Bothingham with the one true saviour of mankind, King?
Yeah, why not. Beef had a killer outswinger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4aWQwJCrBw
Later ‘recycled’ for his Comedy Vehicle, I believe
28 years old, that clip.
“Say what you like about the pig-headed blunderbuss of bombastic assertions”
I like it because that’s exactly what you’ve done
One of our favourite jokes, along with “some people might say…” followed by a long list of incredibly insulting observations about a person.
I wonder if Wayne Larkins will become treasurer?
Quite possibly, although David Graveney is probably better qualified for that role.
Dean Jones to be Director of Communications.
Simon Hughes to be the strategic analyst…