From a long-time supporter

I received this email this afternoon, just after I had published my own thoughts of the day. 

The supporter who sent the email to me has given his permission for me to publish this and I feel his comments are well thought out and excellent, on a similar wavelength to me, for sure

I hope you feel so too. 

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I am beginning to think Mickey Arthur’s days are numbered, although his time with Derbyshire may stretch to the end of next season. Unless the team have a dramatic upturn in form (the best possible outcome) he will come under a lot of pressure to resign at the end of the current season at the top end of the chain. Based on his time with Pakistan he may not do so and to pay him off would almost certainly be enormously expensive.

When Arthur’s appointment was first muted, I thought it was a mistake. It was obvious the appointment would lead to some good publicity and plaudits to the Management Board for their initiative in bringing a top International Coach to the club. For a time, a feel-good factor existed and the team showed some improvement but this has now disappeared.

My initial concerns about the appointment were twofold. Firstly, the deal was far too expensive for a small club – we could probably have funded a suitable Head Coach and two decent players for the money paid to Arthur. Secondly, Mickey knew little about the English game below the international level which made it very difficult for him to come to a club like Derbyshire. Where knowledge of players at a lower level is vital.

I am sure Mickey is hurting right now at the club’s lack of success, which he did not expect when he was appointed. This could lead to his resignation at the end of the season or he may attempt to put things right in the final year of his contract.

The head coaches that have achieved the most success at Derbyshire since I have been a supporter, mid-70s, have been aware of players at other clubs whose opportunities at first-team level have been limited. Players who it might be possible to sign and turn into regular county cricketers. They have also had good shop-floor contacts who want young players to prosper who they know might not get anywhere with the so-called ‘Big Clubs’ and are prepared to recommend them to Derbyshire (Brooke Guest) and players outside the county system (Ben Aitchison.)

I know that things were different in the 1980/1990s but Phil Russell with very little money built a team that was not only competitive but won several trophies as well. A lot is said about Dean Jones and the season we finished second in the County Championship, but the team was largely built by Russell.

This century the efforts of John Morris at team building led to Derbyshire becoming Division Two Champions under the stewardship of Karl Krikken. Morris did not have his contract renewed because the players did not like his management style. He brought Wayne Madsen, Tony Palladino, Mark Footitt, Tim Groenwald, Wes Durston and Chesney Hughes as well as several others to the club. Long-term contracts were offered to several former academy players.

The ideal Head Coach for Derbyshire would be in the mould of Russell/Morris as far as recruitment is concerned. Someone with undiminished enthusiasm whatever the situation who would get the best out of the players and set achievable goals.

With more money now being spent on the Academy and Pathway (£258,000: source 2023 Annual Report - £182,000 was paid to Derbyshire for this purpose in 2023 by the ECB) the theory is that more players should be produced who go on to become first-team regulars. This is a slow process and currently should be looked at only as a support to a recruitment drive and not the answer. Players must earn selection whether home-grown or recruited from elsewhere.

Derbyshire is at a particular disadvantage compared with other similar counties owing to the scarcity of junior talent mainly due to the lack of school cricket in the county. This often leaves coaches with the thankless task of trying to coach young players who have virtually no chance of making the grade at the county level.

 

What is a supporter?

On November 17, 2021, in a post titled 'Mickey Arthur is the new Head of Cricket' I wrote the following words:

I have to say I have reservations, so may as well state them at this early stage. Of course I wish him well, as I want the best for my/your/our club. If he gets us pushing for promotion in four day cricket and out of the T20 group stages then I will be first to applaud and admit I was wrong.

But my concern is his lack of expertise and experience with non-elite players...

Nothing has changed in the intervening period. As a supporter  - and we will come back to that - I would derive incredible pleasure from Mickey Arthur leading us to a trophy. Yet time is passing and at Chesterfield this week I reminded a friend of the old joke, about the man who comes across another watching a game of cricket on the village green.

'Do they win many matches?' he asked. 

'I don't know' came the reply. 'I have only watched them for twelve years..'

I changed the time period at the end, because it is that long since Derbyshire won anything. There's not been many sniffs of glory between times, but anyone who supports the county isn't in it for that. If it was the raison d'etre of their doing so, they would be sorely disappointed by now.

Let's face it, there have been people born and died without seeing us win anything. Between 1870 and 1936 there was nothing, again from then until 1981. I saw us play in the Gillette Cup Final of 1969, two years into supporter life, when a bad decision made at the toss consigned  Derbyshire to defeat against Yorkshire. The more things change, the more they stay the same...**

As a child at school across the wrong side of the county border, I was the only Derbyshire and Derby County fan. They were all Forest and Nottinghamshire supporters, my summers filled with 'we've got Sobers, Derbyshire play like they're drunk' jibes. It eased off when we signed Eddie Barlow, but we have rarely been - at least not in my lifetime - the big boys in the East Midlands. 

It mattered not. Until I moved away to Manchester and my degree, Dad and I went when his shifts at the pit allowed. When I got home for the summer we did the same. When I moved up to Scotland at 21, I still went to games with him on summer visits. Mum always worried about meat going off on a hot day, so meals were always the same - a hard-boiled egg with bread and butter for lunch, a banana with bread and butter for tea. One day she forgot to put the eggs and bananas in...

There is no definition for what a supporter is, other than 'one who supports'. For me, there is no difference between the one who goes to every day, home and away, or the one who goes when he or she can because life gets in the way. Some are fortunate enough to live close and have the option of regular attendance, some have a life that enables them to follow their team around the country. Others don't have that option, because their career, home life, commitments and daily challenges simply don't allow it.

But they still follow their team, still look for scores, watch streams, pore over random websites to glean bits of information. When the team wins, they celebrate - sometimes unduly. When they lose they can be vocal and disappointed, airing that frustration to anyone who cares to listen.

Mickey Arthur hurt a lot of people yesterday with his flip comment about 'genuine supporters'. We are ALL genuine at Derbyshire, because if we weren't we'd be supporting someone who gave us more frequent opportunity for the release of endorphins. We might not be mighty in number, but loyalty should never be questioned. As my old Dad once said, 'they might be sh*t son, but they are OUR sh*t...'

In reality, when my time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil, to quote a little Hamlet, I can perhaps consider that I lived through the golden age of Derbyshire cricket. Trophies in 1981,1990, 1993, 2012 - we have truly been spoiled...

But like the others, from the ones who formerly populated 'Grumblers Corner' to the ones who have been there through thick and largely thin, you earn the right to express dissatisfaction when levels drop. 

Chesterfield was unacceptably poor and comes off a succession of poor decisions, individual failings and a season of unquestionable disappointment. This is professional sport and in all of those I have followed over many years, the penalty for failure is usually the departure of the man in charge. The positions are often well-remunerated but the consequence for failure - as in all big business - is well known. It is two years now since we won a four-day game and if anyone thinks that is a strong platform from which to criticise the fan base, I will be very surprised.

I still hope that Mickey Arthur can turn this around, I really do. But I had doubts at the start and I still have them. If he proves me wrong, I will be happy to hold my hands up, say well done and admit I was wrong.

But the sands of time are fast running out. Three seasons into 'the project' we are no further forward than the average England attack after 15 passes under Gareth Southgate. Personnel have changed, a lot of money has been spent, contracts have been renewed and a LOT of mistakes have been made. At OUR club. I will maintain to my last breath that our greater likelihood of success lies in a solid coach who knows English cricket, with his side aided hugely by two 'gun' overseas cricketers. Phil Russell managed it nicely and we likely need to look for an equivalent, sometime soon. Leicestershire, so often bracketed with us, are doing much better, adopting those very same principles.

We will all still be here when Mickey Arthur has long gone. Players, managers and staff are transient, here today, gone on one of the tomorrows. But the club and its supporters will always be there. Grumbling, if it is merited, but desperately hoping for that first shoot that suggests a giant flower. We'd settle for a daisy or two right now.

Don't turn on those who, in the circumstances, show remarkable restraint. We don't ask much, a competitive edge and our share of wins is a good way to keep us onside.

My daughter asked last night what my remaining ambitions were in life. I told her that I hoped to live to a decent age, then go quickly with my faculties intact when my time comes - and to blog on a trophy win for Derbyshire again.

Is that too much to ask?

I can't control the former, but I still think the latter is possible. 

With the right man in charge.

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**In 1969, a team meeting the night before the final saw the Derbyshire players agree their best chance of winning was to bat first  - if they won the toss - then let Edwin Smith, who had a good record against Yorkshire, bowl his spinners down the slope on a drying pitch. Derek Morgan, the skipper, agreed. But on the day, he went out, won the toss and put Yorkshire in to bat, omitting Edwin from the eleven. 

Then saw his team bowled out by the Yorkshire spinners..

Derbyshire v Yorkshire day three

I'm not going to write too much tonight, because I am tired and frustrated. 

After the game against Yorkshire finished, Mickey Arthur said that the 'genuine fans' need to get behind Derbyshire. He's right to a point, I class myself as 'genuine fan', in my 57th year of supporting the club and seventeenth year of writing about them. 

But I left at lunch today, when the writing was on the wall and I preferred getting back to Scotland, to my wife and dogs, rather than another night in a hotel room. When my journey in each direction to the festival took longer than it did Derbyshire to bat, I think I'm entitled to voice my frustration, as anyone is in this world. 

You can support, yet disagree. You can follow, but air your misgivings. I and others will do that and continue to do so. Such is the way with professional sport. I can't speak for others, in and around the club, but I will always be honest - when performances deserve praise, I am happy to give it, but you have to take the rough with the smooth. The level of performance this year has been unacceptable and in any professional sport, the buck stops with the coach. 

What I found really odd in the post-match interview was when he talked about the toss and said that if Yorkshire had batted first and scored 450, we would have been out of the game. But they wouldn't have done that. I spoke to a number of people who have played a lot of cricket on that ground and they were all incredulous that you would opt to bat on such a bright green, first morning surface. When the opposition feel the same, there is a major misreading of conditions and not for the first time. You cannot make a decision on what 'might' happen in three days time, only on what is in front of you.

You have to assess, he said, whether the first session of the game will be tougher to navigate than the fourth innings. Fair enough, to a point, but when you win the toss and have such a pitch at your disposal, surely you take advantage? 

I am genuinely baffled.

When the club next has a members forum, pertinent questions should be asked of the Head of Cricket. These should include:

'In the 3 years you have been here, what have you done to take the club forward?’ I am struggling to see anything, right now. The early shoots of progress in his first season are now but a distant memory.

'Do you regret taking up the role during the English season with Pakistan.' Because for me, the rot set in when he felt he could do two high profile jobs at the same time. It sent out the wrong signal to players and supporters alike and was disrespectful.

'Which young player have you signed for the county and which young pathway player have you given a chance to?' Big noises were made about Derbyshire becoming 'the county of choice'. I don't see that has happened, do you? 

'How have good players ALL lost form and confidence at the same time?' Surely you have to question your methods? 

'Is there one player that you feel you and your coaches have improved?'

I could go on...

These are pertinent questions and they are not being asked. They are certainly not being answered.

In case anyone is in any doubt, I am, have been and always will be a supporter of Derbyshire, regardless of the level they played. I follow the second team, the pathway sides and both enjoy and celebrate the successes.

But like any supporter, I am entitled to question what is going on when there appears no strategy, no progress and worryingly, no hope. 

This weekend's T20 fixtures are massive. If we lose them both, another competition has passed us by, in a season where Mickey Arthur has HIS team, players he has signed, or re-signed.

If that happens, everyone is entitled to question whether he is the right man for the job.

I look forward to your comments.

Derbyshire v Yorkshire Day 2

Derbyshire 76 all out 

Yorkshire 416-6 (Wharton 188, Tattersall 93*) 

Yorkshire lead by 340 runs

There's not a lot to write about today's cricket at Chesterfield. Before the rains came down and mercifully brought proceedings to a premature close, Yorkshire had extended their lead to 340 runs, with wickets to spare and time to extend that should they wish. 

The likelihood is that they will declare overnight, or when Tattersall gets his century and then set to work on the Derbyshire batting early tomorrow, once the ground staff have done their magic on the outfield. 

While the Yorkshire batters appeared to be in no trouble at all today, I am less than confident the same will apply when it is our turn to bat tomorrow. 

I don't see anything here other than another frustrating and demoralising defeat. 

Quite frankly, we don't deserve anything other than that.