Could Arthur be long-term leader Derbyshire need?
COACHES and players come and go. It’s a merry-go-round that is barely noticed most of the time.
But every so often comes a move that makes everyone sit up and take notice.
Mickey Arthur to Derbyshire? When it was suggested before the T20 World Cup by sources in Sri Lanka, Arthur’s latest stop-off as head coach of a national team, eyebrows were raised but not necessarily hopes.
Was it a bold move by Derbyshire or a bargaining chip from Arthur, who made no secret of his preference for staying with Sri Lanka? Either way, a betting man might have been tempted to put his money on it not happening.
Yet here we are. Mickey Arthur will join Derbyshire as their new head of cricket next month, at the end of a two-Test series against West Indies.
Its impact as a statement of intent from the club is the equivalent – dare we say it – to Derby County signing Wayne Rooney as a player.
The big difference with Arthur is that he is far from entry level as a manager.
Four international boards have trusted him to lead their national teams. He revived South Africa between 2005-10, had an unhappy time marred by internal wrangling with Australia, restored his reputation with Pakistan from 2016-19 and then moved on to Sri Lanka.
There, he took on a national team that has lost so many world-class and experienced players recently and guided a young but dynamic side through the qualifying stages of the T20 World Cup to demanding attention in the Super 12s. They beat West Indies and gave England a thing or two to think about.
Arthur’s contract was due to expire at the end of the West Indies series and he said he was keen to sign another but became frustrated when the Sri Lanka board would not offer a signal of their intentions.
With Sri Lanka now having got through seven head coaches in 10 years, a pattern is emerging there.
This is Derbyshire’s gain. They have landed a hugely experienced leader. Could they have made an appointment more suited to their needs?
A cynic might ask “Why Derbyshire?” It is a fair point. If Arthur had set his sights on a first stint in county cricket, he could have bided his time and found a much more glamorous, far less demanding, place to start.
Derbyshire, for far too long, have been a county in a state of constant transition and the last thing they need is to appoint a head of cricket who is filling in time until he spies a distress signal from another international board.
The Derbyshire job is not a readyto-wear suit you can slip on. It is a project. It will demand a lot of hard work to make the county successful and that will not happen overnight.
But neither is it an impossible task.
If he gets the right backing from the club, Arthur certainly has the contacts book to bring in short-term fixes and the reputation to attract them to Derbyshire, but he will know the crucial part of his task will be to build from the bottom up.
Derbyshire do have a structure in place and Arthur’s challenge is to get the best of it, by identifying young talent and turning them into firstclass cricketers.
He has, reportedly, signed a threeyear contract and it would be nice to think Arthur would be around to see the job through beyond then.
Derbyshire is a long-term project that requires a long-term leader. Can Mickey Arthur be that man?
A quote used on the county club’s website, lifted from an interview with The Guardian in 2009, offers encouragement.
“A good coach will come in ra, ra, ra and rejig the whole set-up,” he said. “That might work for a year or 18 months but isn’t sustainable. A great coach has the ability to get the best out of his players without the ra, ra, ra stuff.”
That is what Derbyshire need. Over to you, Mickey Arthur.
DERBY County fans have reacted to the news that, while a takeover of the club is unlikely before the new year, all of the interested parties are still at the table.
That is despite the fact that the Rams were hit with a nine-point penalty by the EFL this week, their second points deduction of the season.
That takes their total punishment to 21 points, leaving them bottom of the Championship on minus three and facing the realistic prospect of relegation to League One.
Quantuma, the Rams’ administrators, had hoped to have a takeover agreed by the end of December in a best case scenario but expect any prospective deal to be pushed back to January as “EFL discussions ... (have) gone on for a fairly long time”.
As has been the case since Quantuma were brought into the club two months ago, fans appreciated the update and the manner in which it was delivered.
One commenter responded to our story by suggesting that the administrators should be kept on at the club in some capacity.
“Given the actions of the administrators I would be taking them forward in an advisory role if I bought the club (hypothetically),” Boybyrne wrote.
“They have been sensible, informative and have taken a pragmatic approach, just imagine if Mel (Morris, former owner) had listened to people like this 2-3 years ago .... Hmmmmm.”
Derby County fans also reacted to the latest update on Twitter:
@jonny_tomlinson: Clarity, that’s all we ask for as fans and unfortunately it has taken until going into administration for a sensible plan and approach to be put in place and communicated.
@Chr1s_K1: Mel Morris and the rest of the board should be ashamed.
@mtw2268: The use of ‘drifting’ and ‘hoping’ to describe the process doesn’t fill me with confidence!
DERBY County are reportedly willing to let captain Tom Lawrence leave on a free during the January transfer window, according to the Daily Mail.
Lawrence joined the Rams in 2017 from Leicester City and is reported to be the highest earner in the squad, receiving £37,000 a week.
Many Rams fans have taken to social media to react to their captain’s reported wages.
“£37k a week? No wonder we’re losing money!,” a supporter said on Twitter.
“Another hideously flawed decision, the Morris era in a nutshell,” another added.
Here is the rest of the reaction... James England: “£9.6m over 5 years!!”
Joe Williams: “How have they got someone on that much!!”
Neil Baskerville: “37 grand a week in the Championship... just beyond reckless, insanity!”
Simon: “37k in the Championship is madness, the TV money from Sky doesn’t even pay all of that.”
JB: “37k a week, my lord what were we thinking?”
Stefan Broome: “Nearly 40,000 a week, what are we doing? INSANE”
Reece: “37k, no wonder we’re in trouble!”
Rammie: “He will be the first of many to go in January.”
WAYNE Rooney has repeated his commitment to remain as Derby County manager, despite relegation looking likely after the latest ninepoint deduction.
Here is the best of the reaction from our Facebook page to Rooney’s future at the Rams.
Steph Hextall: If passion was going to get us out of this, then yes him and a good few players would save us but I’m going to [be] supporting whatever the outcome.
KC Flanagan: He’s in a great position. He can never be blamed for whatever happens next. This isn’t his doing. He’ll have learned far more about management than the likes of Lampard and Gerrard. If he does well, he’ll be a hero. It’s a win/ win for Wazza [Rooney].
Barbara Rogers: If Rooney stays, he might just keep the Rams up but failing that look at what happened at Rangers – a two league drop and now they are Scottish Premiership champions.
Dave Denno: He has the passion and desire in his heart so I’m backing him, yes.
Ricky Davey: He’s only won four games in 32, which tells you he and this team are not going to stay in the Championship. Let’s just hope he is planning now for League One, because there will be no excuses for this football club not to come straight back up with the right owner and manager at the helm, just my opinion.
Luke Fletcher: Time to walk on water and feed the 5,000 with bread and fish, Wayne. Good luck lad, may the force be with you.
Carl Moore: It would be great if we pulled off the great escape [...] providing we don’t lose any players, especially in January. I believe it’s do-able (fingers crossed) but if nobody steps in to buy come January, we will be playing the academy players as most of the team is offloaded and we will be battered every game.