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Kevin Pietersen-ECB controversy: David Collier brushes off bullying allegations
Steve Harmison too did not support Kevin Pietersen’s bullying allegations against Andy Flower.
Published: Oct 13, 2014, 10:35 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 13, 2014, 10:35 AM (IST)
Oct 13, 2014
Kevin Pietersen’s allegation against former coach, Andy Flower for his bullying culture at the England dressing room was discarded by David Collier, former cricketing chief.
Pietersen alleged that Flower, during his five-year tenure in the English cricket apart from bullying had also developed an atmosphere of fear in the dressing room. However, being Engalnd and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive for over a decade, David Collier brushed of any instance where he was reported of bullying, reports Cityam.
“Andy Flower has the most superb integrity. There is no way we could have had the success over his long and successful period if there hadn’t been huge respect within that dressing room. In any professional sport certain managers and leaders do have intensity from time to time,” said Collier.
“People that we respect as some of the greatest football managers have been known to be fairly robust in the dressing room. In any professional sport players will get frustrated with each other, that’s a fact of life. I didn’t see that in any way affecting the team atmosphere. There were a huge number of opportunities for bullying to be reported but that never happened,” he added.
Steve Harmison, former England seamer too did not support Pietersen’s bullying allegations against Flower, but admitted that his relationship with the former coach was indeed soar.
“If Kevin didn’t rate you or like you, then he wasn’t interested. It goes back to 2008 when Andy Flower had been brought in as batting coach. Back then, he was KP the king, the captain, our best player and superstar. Andy was merely one of the ECB’s foot soldiers.” said Harmison.
“Fast forward a couple of gears and Andy is the king, with three Ashes wins and a T20 World Cup victory, while Kevin is back to being a lowly player. They were bound to clash.” he added.
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More from Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography here