Lowe v Bransgrove

[spyinthesky]

Not a big cricket fan and appreciate that the structure of the two sports are different.

 

However Hants CC was a mid/low ranking club in the cricket world with an old fashioned ground.

 

They now have an excellent facility able to host international games and play in the top echelon.

 

Bransgrove seems a forward thinking chairman, able to manage a budget and attract high profile players. Attendances are up.

 

Interesting to speculate what would have happened to Saints/Hants CC if the interests of Lowe and Bransgrove had been different

[Toomer]

I would not wish Lowe on Trojans Hockey Club but I would love Bransgrove as chairman of SFC.

[charliemiller]

Not a big cricket fan and appreciate that the structure of the two sports are different.

 

However Hants CC was a mid/low ranking club in the cricket world with an old fashioned ground.

 

They now have an excellent facility able to host international games and play in the top echelon.

 

Bransgrove seems a forward thinking chairman, able to manage a budget and attract high profile players. Attendances are up.

 

Interesting to speculate what would have happened to Saints/Hants CC if the interests of Lowe and Bransgrove had been different

 

quite funny really your comparision as they both have the same CEO

[SaintRobbie]

quite funny really your comparision as they both have the same CEO

 

Good point that!

[saint lard]

I see that Lowe's chum,lord Marland who some believe/believed to be Sundance Beast is challenging to become the top man running English Cricket,according to SSN.

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/4280643/Lord-Marland-to-run-against-Giles-Clarke-as-ECB-prepares-for-stand-off.html

Edited 18 January, 2009 by saint lard

[Weston Saint]

quite funny really your comparision as they both have the same CEO

Assume you mean themselves as Bransgrove is Chairman and CEO of the Rosebowl plc.

[FloridaMarlin]

Interesting comparison as there are a lot of similarities with the two.

 

When Bransgrove first got his foot in the door at Hampshire, he was seen as a pushy arriviste and feared by many of the old guard.

 

Before he was voted on to the committee, he was one of these blokes who hang around on the fringes of cricket (and other sports) and loved to be one of the lads with the players.

 

He was always a big supporter of their benefit years, and in fact got voted on to the committee, if my memory serves me correctly, on the strength of Robin Smith's nomination (I could be wrong, but my memory seems to steer me in that direction).

 

The big fear - and 'fear' is not too strong a word to use - among the old guard was that he would want to run the train set, and so it proved.

 

Like Lowe, Bransgrove took over the reins at a club housed in an outdated, but lovable ground, and forced them to up sticks and move to a new stadium.

 

Bransgrove faced a harder job persuading people that Hampshire needed to move. Cricket does not have the level of support football does, and serious questions were asked about the viability and necessity of the Rose Bowl.

 

But the big difference between Bransgrove and Lowe is that Bransgrove had a long-term plan, and was prepared to back it with his own money.

 

Bransgrove is a very rich man. He hates anyone speculating or mentioning how much he might be worth (he once bawled me out in front of a full press box for doing just that, but never denied it when I asked if I had the figure about right), but he has ploughed a lot of his personal fortune into Hampshire Cricket.

 

It's not all about philanthrophy. He has a very sharp business brain and although he has saddled Hampshire Cricket with huge great debts, unlike Lowe, he is prepared to underwrite most of them.

 

His long-term vision (and he believes in it enough that he is even now beginning the next stage of the Rose Bowl's development in the middle of a huge economic slump) is to make the Rose Bowl a permanent fixture on the Test calendar, at which point he may see some return on hs original investment.

 

Like Lowe, who got himself elected on to the FA Council, Bransgrove has ambitions to be the ultimate power-broker in cricket. For a lot of the suits and stuffed-shirts in the EWCB, he is too much of a loose cannon and advocates change too quickly.

 

Like Lowe, Bransgrove does run his club in an almost dictatorial fashion, but unlike Lowe, has every right to do so as he ploughs in a fair proportion of his wealth.

 

And unlike Lowe, he seems to get a lot of his decisions right, based on the fact that as a fan, he knows what makes fans tick.

 

Probably no other county chairman could have attracted Shane Warne. Few counties could have afforded him, but Bransgrove - aided by some clever marketing and sponsorship - stumped up for a package.

 

You could argue that getting Warne to Hampshire was the equivalent of getting Kaka in to Saints. A prospect just too big and expansive for Lowe to contemplate, but the sort of move Bransgrove loves because it puts his club on the map, raises its profile and puts bums on seats.

 

As a centrally contracted player, you may not see much of KP at the Rose Bowl. But he's a Hampshire player, and it's no coincidence that Bransgrove has twice now managed to get the world's most high profile player to his club.

 

For a time when Hampshire first moved to the Rose Bowl and Saints were still in the Prem, they were the two most powerful figures in sport south of Birmingham, outside London, and the Southampton area (yes, the Rose Bowl is officially within Eastleigh BC, but you try telling anyone it's not in 'Southampton') had two clubs and grounds it could be proud of.

 

At that time, there was loose talk of a formal alliance of sorts between the two clubs. Not just in terms of ticket tie-ins, but in a sharing of philosophies, a pooling of common ground in sports science, etc.

 

Bransgrove bought some Saints shares (not a vast amount, but enough to be polite) and he and Rupert were regular hosts to each other in their respective corporate hospitality boxes. There was even speculation that each would be invited or co-opted on to the other's board.

 

But the relationship cooled.

 

The mutual invitations to corporate hostility are no longer extended. Bransgrove became a mere 'customer' at SMS, and although previously a regular user of his season ticket, is rarely seen these days.

 

The difference between Lowe and Bransgrove is that Rod is a bigger visionary who sees a bigger picture.

 

He would not have allowed WGS to leave, and even if he had left, would have actively sought an even bigger name as replacement.

 

Unlike Lowe, he is not afraid to spend a penny to make a penny, even if those pennies are his own.

 

Bransgrove would certainly not allow himself to be answerable to a cabal of shareholders who allow him to cling to power in return for putting their interests first above everything else.

 

Would Bransgrove have made a good Saints chairman?

 

We wish.

 

Lowe v Bransgrove - only one winner.

[spyinthesky]

Florida

 

Thanks for this. Very informative and illuminating.

 

Interesting to have it confirmed that Rod Bransgrove is another person Lord Lowe appears to have fallen out with

[Weston Saint]

Last season Bransgrove shared the cost of the "Ex Directors" box. I spoke to him about Lowe coming back but I will not post what he said. I do not think they have fallen out although I agree with FloridaMarlin that it is a cool relationship.

[Delmary]

Interesting comparison as there are a lot of similarities with the two.

 

When Bransgrove first got his foot in the door at Hampshire, he was seen as a pushy arriviste and feared by many of the old guard.

 

Before he was voted on to the committee, he was one of these blokes who hang around on the fringes of cricket (and other sports) and loved to be one of the lads with the players.

 

He was always a big supporter of their benefit years, and in fact got voted on to the committee, if my memory serves me correctly, on the strength of Robin Smith's nomination (I could be wrong, but my memory seems to steer me in that direction).

 

The big fear - and 'fear' is not too strong a word to use - among the old guard was that he would want to run the train set, and so it proved.

 

Like Lowe, Bransgrove took over the reins at a club housed in an outdated, but lovable ground, and forced them to up sticks and move to a new stadium.

 

Bransgrove faced a harder job persuading people that Hampshire needed to move. Cricket does not have the level of support football does, and serious questions were asked about the viability and necessity of the Rose Bowl.

 

But the big difference between Bransgrove and Lowe is that Bransgrove had a long-term plan, and was prepared to back it with his own money.

 

Bransgrove is a very rich man. He hates anyone speculating or mentioning how much he might be worth (he once bawled me out in front of a full press box for doing just that, but never denied it when I asked if I had the figure about right), but he has ploughed a lot of his personal fortune into Hampshire Cricket.

 

It's not all about philanthrophy. He has a very sharp business brain and although he has saddled Hampshire Cricket with huge great debts, unlike Lowe, he is prepared to underwrite most of them.

 

His long-term vision (and he believes in it enough that he is even now beginning the next stage of the Rose Bowl's development in the middle of a huge economic slump) is to make the Rose Bowl a permanent fixture on the Test calendar, at which point he may see some return on hs original investment.

 

Like Lowe, who got himself elected on to the FA Council, Bransgrove has ambitions to be the ultimate power-broker in cricket. For a lot of the suits and stuffed-shirts in the EWCB, he is too much of a loose cannon and advocates change too quickly.

 

Like Lowe, Bransgrove does run his club in an almost dictatorial fashion, but unlike Lowe, has every right to do so as he ploughs in a fair proportion of his wealth.

 

And unlike Lowe, he seems to get a lot of his decisions right, based on the fact that as a fan, he knows what makes fans tick.

 

Probably no other county chairman could have attracted Shane Warne. Few counties could have afforded him, but Bransgrove - aided by some clever marketing and sponsorship - stumped up for a package.

 

You could argue that getting Warne to Hampshire was the equivalent of getting Kaka in to Saints. A prospect just too big and expansive for Lowe to contemplate, but the sort of move Bransgrove loves because it puts his club on the map, raises its profile and puts bums on seats.

 

As a centrally contracted player, you may not see much of KP at the Rose Bowl. But he's a Hampshire player, and it's no coincidence that Bransgrove has twice now managed to get the world's most high profile player to his club.

 

For a time when Hampshire first moved to the Rose Bowl and Saints were still in the Prem, they were the two most powerful figures in sport south of Birmingham, outside London, and the Southampton area (yes, the Rose Bowl is officially within Eastleigh BC, but you try telling anyone it's not in 'Southampton') had two clubs and grounds it could be proud of.

 

At that time, there was loose talk of a formal alliance of sorts between the two clubs. Not just in terms of ticket tie-ins, but in a sharing of philosophies, a pooling of common ground in sports science, etc.

 

Bransgrove bought some Saints shares (not a vast amount, but enough to be polite) and he and Rupert were regular hosts to each other in their respective corporate hospitality boxes. There was even speculation that each would be invited or co-opted on to the other's board.

 

But the relationship cooled.

 

The mutual invitations to corporate hostility are no longer extended. Bransgrove became a mere 'customer' at SMS, and although previously a regular user of his season ticket, is rarely seen these days.

 

The difference between Lowe and Bransgrove is that Rod is a bigger visionary who sees a bigger picture.

 

He would not have allowed WGS to leave, and even if he had left, would have actively sought an even bigger name as replacement.

 

Unlike Lowe, he is not afraid to spend a penny to make a penny, even if those pennies are his own.

 

Bransgrove would certainly not allow himself to be answerable to a cabal of shareholders who allow him to cling to power in return for putting their interests first above everything else.

 

Would Bransgrove have made a good Saints chairman?

 

We wish.

 

Lowe v Bransgrove - only one winner.

Great post. Interestingly Bransgrove escorted Paterson down the players tunnel when the youngster got red carded recently. So he must be helping out???

[wadesmith]

I love bransgrove, but there is one major difference between Football & Cricket. I remember in about 2000 when we had Warne we got relegated (We had a **** team) Now as we know in football terms that often means oblivion & chaos. In cricket it doesn't mean alot. You don't lose alot of revenue & to be honest no one really cares much. Therefore I think in certain terms the comparison is slightly unfair. It cannot be denied though that Bransgrove is a massive cricket & Hampshire fan, his current recommendations on how the game should move forward are spot-on in my opinion.

[FloridaMarlin]

Great post. Interestingly Bransgrove escorted Paterson down the players tunnel when the youngster got red carded recently. So he must be helping out???

 

Really? I wasn't aware of that.

 

Are you sure it was Rod and not somebody who looks like him?

 

I can't think of a reason why Rod would be down in the tunnel area (I wouldn't have thought Jan would know who he was to want to get him involved, even though I've no doubt P-J Bakker is one of Poortvliet's sporting heroes), but if he was then it can only be a good thing.

 

He certainly knows how to put an arm around his players, and how to motivate them.

 

You speak to any current or ex-Hampshire players and they'll all tell you what a great chairman he is, even if they have fallen out with other people at the club and left (no names!)

 

He does go into the dressing room, but only after a day's play. He appoints a skipper and leaves the pre-game stuff to him.

 

Warney instigated the famous Hampshire Victory Song (an idea he adopted from the Aussie's motivational handbook) and the players loved it that Rod was prepared to take his turn in leading it off.

 

THAT'S when a chairman should be getting involved in the dressing room, throwing off his inhibitions (and often much of his clothing!) to show the players that winning means as much to him as it does to them.

 

You just can't somehow see Rupert descending to the shop floor and mixing with the lower orders.

[Leslie Charteris]

Under Bransgrove, HCC have moved forwards and upwards. It would be no surprise if they won a major trophy in the near future.

 

Under Lowe, SFC have slowly but surely spiralled downwards, despite the nice new ground. It would be no surprise if we were playing League 2 football in the not so distant future.

 

There is no comparison. If the positions were reversed, we would probably still be playing Premiership football. As it is, I can see no positive outcomes from the current situation.

[Summers]

Under Bransgrove, HCC have moved forwards and upwards. It would be no surprise if they won a major trophy in the near future.

 

 

 

 

C&G Trophy?