ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney will be shown the door soon. He was earlier MD, ESPN Star Sports in Haryana, India[/caption]
Manu Sawhney, the present Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is likely to be asked to quit his position when the ICC governing body’s board members meet via teleconference this week.
The ICC governing body board member representative meeting was scheduled to be held either yesterday (31 March) or today (1 April).
Sawhney came on board in January 2019 when the ICC was being led by Nagpur-based lawyer Shashank Manohar as the Chairman in his second term and is reportedly facing the axe due to difference of opinion, allegedly from the leading ICC member countries, including the “Big Three” – Australia, England, and India.
Any other contributory factors?
Are there any other issues that contribute to his sacking? There are interesting reports emerging earlier this week on Sawhney’s two years in office at the ICC headquarters in Dubai.
“Empathy and fellowship, or the lack of it, are among the keywords that are about to see Manu Sawhney, the Singapore-based sports management executive, on his way out of the game’s governing body,” reported the Times of India (ToI) yesterday.
“Non-aligned with the federation’s way”
The ICC, as the Morning Sports exclusively reported quoting our sources in the ICC headquarters in Dubai earlier this month, had asked Sawhney to go on leave after a “cultural investigation” conducted by UK-based PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC), who concluded in its preliminary report that Sawhney’s conduct, over the past 12 months and more, was “unsavoury and grossly non-aligned with the federation’s way of functioning and operational approach”.
Since then, a full report has been submitted to the office of ICC Chairman, New Zealand’s Greg Barclay, and to the member boards of the governing body. The report was to be tabled when the members were to meet either over the last 24 hours or the coming 24 hours of Thursday.
ICC staffers speak against Sawhney
Sawhney, 51, and an independent director at the leading English Premier League football club Manchester United, was asked to be present last week at a cross-examination --of the PWC report-- conducted by the ICC, which he chose to forego.
The ToI said it understood that close to 90% staff at the ICC spoke against Sawhney during the PWC investigation when asked to communicate with a guarantee of absolute discretion, about his general conduct as the federation’s CEO.
“Unconfirmed reports have said Sawhney is getting ready to send the ICC a legal notice on the same,” added ToI.
Dissent became too loud lately
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison, West Indies Cricket Board (CWI) CEO Jonathan Graves, and ECB Director of Events Steve Elworthy, also a former South African international cricketer, are in contention to take over as ICC CEO after Sawhney’s leaving.
The HR Committee of the ICC will soon begin the process of hiring a new CEO once the present formalities are done with.
The ICC decided to bring PWC-UK on board to conduct the investigation after growing voices of dissent within the organisation had become too loud to ignore.
Extremely “rude” and “unpleasant”
Sawhney had been appointed Chief Executive two years ago under the chairmanship of Manohar. With Manohar at the helm, the ICC and member boards like BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA), and the ECB had perennially been at loggerheads over multiple issues, primary ones being related to tax matters (particularly BCCI), shrinking revenue share, events distribution, exclusion of representatives from these member boards on important committees, etc, remembered ToI.
“Ever since Sawhney’s appointment, there were murmurs about the recruitment process too. Lately, his involvement in the politics of the ICC was also seen as overstepping his brief,” a source who is in the know of the development, has told ToI.
Sawhney, ICC members say, went “out of his way” to influence the process of electing the new Chairman, particularly in favour of a certain nominee. The report submitted by PWC-UK has stated --by way of employees being interviewed between January and February-- that Sawhney’s conduct towards them, in the capacity of CEO, was “extremely rude” and “unpleasant”.
“Certain incidents” in his previous job
There are those who point out to “certain incidents” that have taken place when Sawhney was employed at the Singapore Sports Hub prior to taking up the CEO’s role at the ICC. However, ICC board members and staff have refused to divulge details.
“We will be seeking (female) Independent Director Indra Nooyi’s views on this. She was on board when Sawhney was appointed. We would like to understand the procedures that were put in place when the appointment happened,” a board member said.