What do Manchester United and the Bangladesh cricket team have in common? They both have dodgy boards, they’ve both underperformed this season and embarrassingly as of this week they have both found themselves without a full time coach for the near future.
While David Moyes was sacked and Shane Jurgensen quit, both their positions were made untenable by the boards that should have looked out for them.
News of Moyes’ sacking was made public a day before he even met the MUFC board with the leaks emanating directly from the board itself. The situation turned so toxic that the League Managers Association (LMA) even issued a statement where they said, “The LMA is very disappointed with the nature of David's departure from Manchester United and to read extensive reports in the press, confirming David's sacking, before David himself had been spoken to officially by the club.
“Throughout his time at United, David, as he always does, has conducted himself with integrity and professionalism, values that he believes in and that have been strongly associated with the club and its rich tradition. It is therefore sad to see the end of David's tenure at United being handled in an unprofessional manner.”
Replace David Moyes with Shane Jurgensen and Manchester United with the Bangladesh cricket team and the same holds true in Bangladesh. But while Moyes was pushed out, Jurgensen decided to resign before the board pushed him.
A few days before his resignation, members of the board requesting anonymity said they were looking for a new head coach, possibly someone with a batting background. The leaks continued until Jurgensen decided to take his fate into his own hands and step away.
The situation was shambolic for a number of reasons. Firstly, members of the board were openly talking about and looking for replacements for a coach who has served the team honorably. And secondly, they leaked it to the press, thus piling pressure on a man who still had a year to run on his contract. The pressure would have been justified had he heard it directly from the board, but he didn’t. Exactly like Moyes he had to read the tea leaves in the morning papers.
Let’s not forget this is a man who stood by the team when they needed him. After Stuart Law left the team, it was Jurgensen who stepped into the breach, took over the reins and performed above and beyond the call of duty.
The players look up to and respect him, and while the team has performed well below their expectation in the past three months, that alone does not justify questioning his position. In the past year and a half, Bangladesh has punched above its weight and there has been a certain pomp to their play which was previously lacking.
The board should have looked back further than a few months while also keeping an eye on the upcoming World Cup before they started discussing the search for a new coach. Most importantly, they should have spoken to him directly instead of using the media as an unprepared midwife. He deserved better.
The professional coach circuit is full of ringers - consultants who come for the money and leave just as quickly. Shane Jurgensen is not one of them. He may not have a few hundred international wickets or 10,000 international runs but what he brought to Bangladesh cricket was his dedication and loyalty.
Loyalty goes a long way for those who value it. Which begs the question, what does our cricket board value?