Giles Clarke 'lets fark up the County Championship'

ECB ready to bulldoze the Championship
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/355429.html

3 divisions with no promotion/relegation? WTF!!!?

How is that going to produce competitive cricket?

This bloke is a complete twot! How the hell did he get anywhere near being in a position of responsiblity for cricket?

Is it me or do these people actually not klnow what they are doing?

I know - and it's so we can fit more T20 in FFS...

That's despite a lot of matches i've seen on TV being far from sold out

I'd say our FC cricket is the strongest it has been for 30 years - every game has something riding on it. Why fook about with it?

This Giles chap needs a shoeing!

I'm no fan of CC. But 3 divisions with no promotion or relegation takes it back to the days before the split, when 1/2 way through the season teams have nothing to play for... Pointless and dull..

Obviosuly he has England being #1 in the world in test cricket as top of his priorities! QUNT!!

I hate this qunt. One of those fatcat business types. A 'Ya, I know everything, ya' wanker. TBH, if I saw him in the street I'd bang him out. Someone tried it the other week, but was too girly.

Clarke is a follower rather than visionary, although Qunt is more apt.

I can't believe the counties will agree to this...

Oh dear. It's really sad how willing people are to f*ck something up just so that they can make more money. Remember when he started how he was all positive and 'ready to get stuck in' in order to make England the best cricketing nation in the world? He was seen as a brash chairman who wouldn't be afraid to stand up to the counties if it meant doing what was best for English cricket. Now he's been well and truly hypnotised by the $$$$$$$ and couldn't give a f*ck about our first class and test cricket. What a weak c*nt.

There is little wrong with the current set up. The only thing i'd change is to have 2 up and 2 down, as opposed to the current 3 up and 3 down. Oh yeah, and i'd get rid of Derbyshire and Leics.

... a move whose main objective is to clear room for more Twenty20 cricket. This is despite growing worries from some counties that crowds at matches this season have been down, something many attribute to the increase in the number of games.

Or maybe people have started waking up to the fact that t20 is genuinely shite. Thought that was going to take longer, meself.

T20 crowds dipped last year too..

in 2005 & 2006 Middx v Surrey got 28,000 at Lords

last year and this the ground was only half full. Mind you 2005/6 we had cracking summers and the weather was great.

Last year was farkin orrible & this years a bit in and out weather wise to date.

3 divisions, 2 up two down - dynamic, fine.

3 divisions, no promo/relegation - recipe for the desert.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. An adage that cannot be applied to Giles Clarke's face, nor his personality, nor his ambition for English cricket. One that certainly can be applied to the County Championship though in its current form, bar perhaps the influx of Kolpakkers. I'm sick of these businessmen having tantrums because they're not getting their slice of the pie.

"he also wants to end promotion and relegation between divisions, so the three conferences will be randomly drawn at the start of the season"

lol! this is like a monty python sketch. matches without any meaning, like a sunday hit-about in the park

JKLever wrote:T20 crowds dipped last year too..

in 2005 & 2006 Middx v Surrey got 28,000 at Lords

last year and this the ground was only half full. Mind you 2005/6 we had cracking summers and the weather was great.

Last year was farkin orrible & this years a bit in and out weather wise to date.

So it's possible that the novelty is wearing off. The players should grab every penny they can, while they can IMO.

How can anyone take this face seriously. "Ooo err Missus, I kid ye not!"

So plummy he's actually sucking on it.

He should put a sock in it.

Gee, what a surprise. Crowds for T20 are falling as there are more of them being played. Who would have thought it?


And as for the 3 Divisions thing - with the Divisions drawn out of a hat - surely this is a joke. No one who is in any way sane could really be advocating such a thing.

They should bring back bear-baiting. Except use ECB executives instead.

'Clarke's proposal will be further discussed at the next county chief executives' meeting in July after which all talk of this preposterous idea will have ended.'

Fixed.

Hopefully so GT!

Though I remain to be convinced the chief execs wont be bought off...

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:'Clarke's proposal will be further discussed at the next county chief executives' meeting in July after which all talk of this preposterous idea will have ended.'

Fixed.

Not sure Geoff - how do you think he got in? He did an Australia and swayed some votes behind the back of his opposition. He must've done it somehow - I'm sure there're some bigger counties who just want to play a certain set of other counties - this could've been the vote clincher for him for all we know.

That is th edaddy of all conspiracy theories.

They just hated the other thundertwat slightly more, with his talk of Farq "player burnout", Kev and Co are all ours MWAHAHA

PeterCS wrote:That is th edaddy of all conspiracy theories.

They just hated the other thundertwat slightly more, with his talk of Farq "player burnout", Kev and Co are all ours MWAHAHA

Nowhere near the daddy of all conspiracies. Was documented as 'alleged fact'. There was an opinion poll beforehand and Soper was well ahead. Lo and behold when it came to the real vote, Clarke won by one or two.

Will it stand up in a court of law?

Will it convince Red Duster?

PeterCS wrote:Will it stand up in a court of law?

Will it convince Red Duster?

Don't care. It's totally feasible. It's not illegal AFAIK. It just meant that Soper took some votes for granted, as England did, with the outcome being the opposite. It's underhanded, but that's all. We don't know what Clarke said to assuage the county chairman, as I say it could've been this proposal.