{"id":92290,"date":"2023-08-30T16:34:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T16:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=92290"},"modified":"2023-08-30T16:34:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T16:34:03","slug":"inside-county-cricket-bransgrove-on-23-years-at-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/sports-news\/inside-county-cricket-bransgrove-on-23-years-at-hampshire\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Bransgrove on 23 years at Hampshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Rod Bransgrove reflects on his decision to retire after 23 years as Hampshire chairman and drawing inspiration from Shane Warne in terms of never giving up<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rod Bransgrove admits that he only intended to stay in cricket for a short while\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span>Bransgrove is delighted Hampshire will get to hosts an Ashes Test in 2027<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rod Bransgrove looks back on 23 years as one of the most influential and modern thinking administrators in English cricket and admits he only intended a short stay in the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When I came in Hampshire had basically run out of money and had nowhere else to go,\u2019 says the man who saved his adopted club from extinction and became a thorn in the side of the ECB by demanding more international cricket for the ground he then built.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There were many times when I asked myself what was I doing. I envisaged spending two or three years sorting it out and then moving on to something else and it was a big wake up call for me when I realised I was in very deep.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It took pretty much all my resources and there were definitely times when the club was threatened or I was running out of gas.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We had significant opposition from the governing body which was really difficult to live with. At times I even wondered if they wanted us to perish. But we came through it. So this is a good time to start stepping away.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/30\/15\/74878579-0-image-m-63_1693406909836.jpg\" height=\"403\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rod Bransgrove has admitted that he initially only intended to stay in cricket for a short time<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/30\/15\/74878581-0-image-m-64_1693406921395.jpg\" height=\"605\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bransgrove announced he will retire as chairman of Hampshire, who he rescued in 2000<\/p>\n<p>That process has begun with Bransgrove, 72, retiring as Hampshire chairman after a reign which started with him rescuing the club in 2000 before completing the move from the rickety old Northlands Road ground to the new stadium on the outskirts of Southampton that has become the modern Ageas Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When I took the job I promised the members three things,\u2019 Bransgrove tells Mail Sport. \u2018The first was to save Hampshire from insolvency which obviously we\u2019ve done. Secondly we said we would build a club capable of competing with the best in the country and even though it\u2019s been difficult I think we\u2019ve done that.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018And thirdly I said we\u2019d build a business around what was then the Rose Bowl utilising the whole site so that Hampshire cricket will never again be under threat and I think we\u2019re pretty close to that as well. So I just felt this was a good time to bring in a new face (new chair Nick Pike) for a new relationship with the ECB. And I can put my feet up.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Not that a man who made his fortune as a pharmaceuticals entrepreneur before throwing himself into cricket is fully putting his feet up just yet. Bransgrove will remain in charge of the business side of Hampshire for at least four more years for one very good reason.<\/p>\n<p>All the hard work and battles with the establishment for more recognition for Hampshire\u2019s purpose-built stadium came to fruition earlier this summer with the culmination of Bransgrove\u2019s work at Hampshire \u2013 the award of an Ashes Test for 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It is such an amazingly overwhelming result for us because we were starting to regard it as impossible,\u2019 said Bransgrove. \u2018But we never gave up. That was one of Shane Warne\u2019s favourite phrases. Never ever give up and I subscribe to that.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When it finally happened and we knew we would be staging an Ashes Test we were just over the moon. David Mann (the Hampshire chief executive) and I were at Taunton for the first Blast match of this summer when we got the news and nobody in the pavilion could understand how we could be having so much fun when we were getting smashed by Somerset! But we couldn\u2019t tell anybody.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>That news is not without controversy. So bitter and protracted did Bransgrove\u2019s clashes with the ECB and his bete noire in former chairman Giles Clarke become that, it is revealed in a brilliant new book on his time at Hampshire \u2018Back from the Brink\u2019 by the journalist Ivo Tennant, he took legal action against them.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/30\/15\/74878779-0-image-m-66_1693407433600.jpg\" height=\"515\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bransgrove stated that he draws inspiration from Shane Warne in terms of never giving up<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/30\/16\/74879031-0-image-a-67_1693407747337.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bransgrove bristles at the suggestion Hampshire should always miss out when there are Tests at Lord&#8217;s and the Oval and improvements are set to take place ahead of The Ashes in 2027<\/p>\n<p>Then, when a change of regime at the ECB and the arrival of Richard Thompson and Richard Gould finally brought Bransgrove the Test he has sought more than any other, the news was greeted with dismay by those who cannot believe there will be no Tests in the north of England in the next home Ashes.<\/p>\n<p>Brangrove bristles at the suggestion Hampshire should always miss out when there are Tests at Lord&#8217;s and the Oval. \u2018There are people who live north of London who think Southampton is just London Beach but there\u2019s an awful lot of England below the capital and the people who live there don\u2019t necessarily want to go to London for their entertainment,\u2019 he insisted.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The criticism levelled about the lack of Tests in the north was unfair because in 2027 there will be two in the midlands, two in London and only one in the south.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I thought Andy Burnham (Manchester mayor) had a little too much to say about this, especially when it was peeing with rain at Old Trafford and that denied us the Ashes. I wasn\u2019t particularly impressed with that.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It certainly took a change of administration at the ECB for this to happen for us. I can\u2019t really comment on how they got to decisions in the past but it didn\u2019t seem fair to me.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ve spent more than a hundred million pounds to make this one of the best grounds in the country and the result of that is that the established grounds raised their game too and that\u2019s all been to the benefit of spectators.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But it\u2019s seemed at times we\u2019ve been punished for doing that and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve really been credited for the good we have done English cricket.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Now a man who has spent \u00a315million of his own money on the Hampshire project is already planning on making his Ashes Test the best it possibly can be.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/30\/16\/74879225-0-image-a-68_1693408098067.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>One regret Bransgrove has is Hampshire&#8217;s failure to add to their County Championship titles<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have plans to make the place even better for 2027,\u2019 said Bransgrove of the ground that will have a new name next year following the end of the Ageas partnership.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We need to identify the amount of spectators we will have but it will be somewhere between 20 and 24 thousand.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018And we\u2019re on top of the access issue. There has been some legacy from antagonists who still like to mention it but our access times these days are pretty good.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The Ashes do seem a long way away and I\u2019m not necessarily wishing my life away these days. There\u2019s plenty to do before then and we are going to be busy.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But I will be demanding that when the time comes I will sit there in the pavilion, not do any work and soak it all up. It\u2019s our next Test. People have seen what we can do and it will be even better then. It\u2019s going to be a great occasion and I can\u2019t wait.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Bransgrove and Hampshire deserve to soak up their moment of Ashes triumph.<\/p>\n<p>*Hampshire have won seven white-ball trophies during Rod Bransgrove\u2019s time as chairman and will have the chance to add an eighth following their demolition of Warwickshire in the Metro Bank 50-over Cup semi-final this week. They will now meet Leicestershire, in their first 50-over final in 22 years, at Trent Bridge on September 16.<\/p>\n<p>But the one regret Bransgrove has from his 23 years in the chair has been the failure of Hampshire to add to their two County Championship titles despite several near misses.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I do regret we haven\u2019t won a Championship but it\u2019s a very difficult competition to win,\u2019 said Bransgrove. \u2018A lot has to go your way but we have been within touching distance once or twice. We\u2019ve won it twice in 150 years of existence which is on average once every 75 years and I\u2019m not going to give myself another 50 years to try and win it now!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12461897\/INSIDE-COUNTY-CRICKET-Rod-Bransgrove-reflects-decision-retire-23-years-Hampshire-chairman-drawing-inspiration-Shane-Warne-terms-never-giving-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Rod Bransgrove reflects on his decision to retire after 23 years as Hampshire chairman and drawing inspiration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Bransgrove on 23 years at Hampshire - 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