David Collier awarded OBE in New Year Honours

I’m not making this up. David Collier, who retired this year as ECB chief executive, has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year Honours.

How did this come to pass?

According the government’s website:

The honours system recognises people who have:

• made achievements in public life
• committed themselves to serving and helping Britain

They’ll usually have made life better for other people or be outstanding at what they do.

Let’s take a quick look through Collier’s CV. During a decade at the helm of English cricket, he moved TV coverage from terrestrial channels to Sky, oversaw vast increases in ticket prices, instituted a chaotic and ruinous bidding system, and left office to a backdrop of dwindling attendances, declining participation, and a shambolic England team.

In the process Collier also managed to antagonise most of the counties – so much so that reportedly they forced him out of the job.

It was Collier who appointed Paul Downton. And it was Collier who ran the ECB during the key stages of the Pietersen affair. He authorised the ‘outside cricket’ press release.

If all of that wasn’t enough, what about the timing? Imagine the discussion at the honours committee.

“Right then – which public body in the UK has really stood out during 2014 for its outstanding leadership and excellent record of achievement?”

“You mean – an organisation renowned for being extremely well run but also highly regarded by both public and stakeholders?”

“Exactly”.

“Someone who’s had a really great year?”

“Yup”.

“How about the bloke who runs the England and Wales Cricket Board?”

I mean, it’s the obvious choice.

Historically, Collier’s gong is nothing new. In cricket (and sport generally) the administrators, not the players, tend to receive the major awards. With the exception of Michael Vaughan, the members of the 2005 Ashes team (including Flintoff) received MBEs, a lower honour than Collier’s. Two of England’s four 300-wicket bowlers are only MBEs – James Anderson, and Bob Willis. And since Willis, every full-time England captain has been made an OBE after leaving the post, except one. Have a wild guess who that might be.

Going a little further back, after England’s epochal Ashes victory in 1932-22 the heroic fast bowler (Larwood) was ostracised and betrayed, the triumphant captain (Jardine) was sidelined, and the weasely tour manager (Pelham Warner) was knighted. Larwood’s extraordinary feats were eventually recognised with an MBE -but not until he was 88.

You might well think – who cares about some stupid awards? You’d have a point. But here’s why they matter. Honours reflect official perceptions of rank and status quo. It’s an inside/outside thing. The choice of which individuals receive which honours tell you about the mindset of the people who call the shots.

Here’s what Giles Clarke has to say about Collier’s OBE.

David’s OBE is richly deserved and I am sure he and his family will be thrilled by this award. He provided outstanding leadership for ECB over the last decade; a period which saw record levels of investment in our professional and recreational games, significant growth in women’s and disabilities cricket, and major on-field successes for both the England men’s and women’s teams.

Prior to joining ECB, David served our county game with great distinction. He held senior management positions at four different counties and, during his tenure as Nottinghamshire CCC’s CEO, played a leading role in the transformation of Trent Bridge into one of the most admired cricket venues in the country. He has also retained a life-long interest in hockey, acting as Tournament Director for the sport at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and I am sure that all his many friends throughout the sporting world will welcome today’s news.

Funnily enough, there was one aspect of Collier’s tenure which Clarke forgot to mention. Here’s a clue.

As the Guardian reported in December 2008:

The England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, David Collier, has confirmed that the England and Wales Cricket Board’s lucrative partnership with Sir Allen Stanford will continue next summer and for “a number of years”. Stanford is expected to become a major backer of the proposed English Premier League Twenty20 tournament from 2010.

Collier maintained that the “treasured relationship” with the Texan remains strong. “Clearly there were a number of well-published contractual issues…but Sir Allen also made a big play of the fact that the matches in the quadrangular [tournament] will go ahead at Lord’s this summer. Clearly he also says he treasures the relationship he has developed with the ECB and wishes to continue to work with us, particularly regarding the quadrangular series.

Six weeks later, Stanford was charged with fraud. According to the Daily Mail:

David Collier must face the ECB executive committee at Lord’s today with feelings growing he will be the man to carry the can for the Allen Stanford scandal.

[They] will press Collier on why details of Stanford’s contract with the ECB have not been made readily available to the counties nor the Chance to Shine charity which was supposed to benefit hugely from the deal.

Instead of Stanford’s money going to set up Chance to Shine in the Caribbean, as was stated by the ECB, the counties were each given a £50,000 bonus using profits from the Twenty20 challenge match in Antigua, on top of the annual £1.7million they receive from central funding.

The bonus can’t have hindered Clarke’s chances of being re-elected by the counties, of whom only Hampshire, Lancashire and Leicestershire are definitely against him.

And then Collier came over all Alastair Cook and showed his inner steel. From the Telegraph:

David Collier, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, says he will not resign in the wake of the Sir Allen Stanford fiasco.

However, Collier did admit that he and chairman Giles Clarke have discussed their positions after being heavily criticised for entering into such a damaging partnership with Stanford.

The board has severed all ties with the Texan billionaire following the charges levelled at him on Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, which has accused the financier of masterminding a fraud totalling $9.2 billion.

The developments mean England’s long-term deal with Stanford for Twenty20 tournaments has collapsed, leaving the ECB out of pocket due to a loss of potentially lucrative earnings.

[Collier said] “I have been extremely heartened that many people involved in cricket – and I suppose having worked in the game for 30 years I’ve probably got as many contacts as anyone – have urged me to continue what they see as the immense progress we’ve made over the last four years.

“I believe that as professionals we went through all the correct contract procedures. Clearly the board correctly signed off all of the agreements. Certainly I’ve discussed [resigning] with Giles but more importantly members of the board have been phoning to say we have full confidence and you must carry on”.

Collier was non-committal about the possibility of the ECB returning the money received for last year’s Twenty20 events.

And if that’s not “committing to serving and helping Britain, [and making] life better for other people or being outstanding at what you do”, I don’t know what is.