News based on Stuart Cain's letter to members:
Director of Cricket: three potential replacements, each of them with experience in leading high performance cricket teams at domestic or international level. All proven winners.
Bowling coach: close to appointing a replacement with extensive experience at county and national teams.
Overseas player: identified - an international bowler who can play in both the Championship and the Blast. He can also bat.
Blast: discussions are ongoing regarding the addition of batting strength, particularly for the Blast
Let's hope that the actual appointments live up to the hype.

....and another actual appointment - but still no announcement about the Director of Cricket:
https://edgbaston.com/news/new-high-performance-coach-shaftab-keen-to-develop-clubs-huge-talent/

The Club currently turning over stones to discover the missing Director of Cricket:
'Warwickshire’s search for a Director of Cricket continues, with the Club committed to finding the right person to bring long-term success to Edgbaston, after the candidate offered the job unexpectedly turned it down for personal reasons.

Chief Executive Stuart Cain, said: “It’s incredibly frustrating, but after two months of conversation, the individual concerned decided not to accept the role.

"So we continue to speak to candidates who match the profile and will appoint as quickly as possible, but this appointment is for the long term and if it takes us a few months longer than we would have hoped then so be it.

“The delay won’t hinder plans for next season.

“Mark Robinson is a highly experienced Head Coach, supported by long standing Bears, Ian Westwood, and Tony Frost, as well as the new bowling coach, Stuart Barnes. They have put together a plan to address the issues we faced last year and make sure we challenge for honours across red and white ball cricket next season which the players support.

"They’re ready to hit the indoor nets hard in January, with the new signings already bringing a fresh edge to things.

“There is then the wider team who are also cracking on with their jobs. Gary Barwell is one of the best Groundsmen in the game, Paul Greetham runs an excellent talent pathway, Gerhard Mostert is one of the county circuit’s best Heads of Medicine and Keith Cook is running things behind the scenes in the same way as he has done for more than 20 years.

“We know that the team is in good hands and shaping up well for the season ahead. We will keep Members updated on developments regarding the Director of Cricket.”'

So who was it that turned the job down? And what happened to the other two who were supposedly on the short-list?

GerryShedd wrote:

The Club currently turning over stones to discover the missing Director of Cricket:
'Warwickshire’s search for a Director of Cricket continues, with the Club committed to finding the right person to bring long-term success to Edgbaston, after the candidate offered the job unexpectedly turned it down for personal reasons.

Chief Executive Stuart Cain, said: “It’s incredibly frustrating, but after two months of conversation, the individual concerned decided not to accept the role.

"So we continue to speak to candidates who match the profile and will appoint as quickly as possible, but this appointment is for the long term and if it takes us a few months longer than we would have hoped then so be it.

“The delay won’t hinder plans for next season.

“Mark Robinson is a highly experienced Head Coach, supported by long standing Bears, Ian Westwood, and Tony Frost, as well as the new bowling coach, Stuart Barnes. They have put together a plan to address the issues we faced last year and make sure we challenge for honours across red and white ball cricket next season which the players support.

"They’re ready to hit the indoor nets hard in January, with the new signings already bringing a fresh edge to things.

“There is then the wider team who are also cracking on with their jobs. Gary Barwell is one of the best Groundsmen in the game, Paul Greetham runs an excellent talent pathway, Gerhard Mostert is one of the county circuit’s best Heads of Medicine and Keith Cook is running things behind the scenes in the same way as he has done for more than 20 years.

“We know that the team is in good hands and shaping up well for the season ahead. We will keep Members updated on developments regarding the Director of Cricket.”'

So who was it that turned the job down? And what happened to the other two who were supposedly on the short-list?

Could it be Giles, having second thoughts on ANOTHER return?

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

The Club currently turning over stones to discover the missing Director of Cricket:
'Warwickshire’s search for a Director of Cricket continues, with the Club committed to finding the right person to bring long-term success to Edgbaston, after the candidate offered the job unexpectedly turned it down for personal reasons.

Chief Executive Stuart Cain, said: “It’s incredibly frustrating, but after two months of conversation, the individual concerned decided not to accept the role.

"So we continue to speak to candidates who match the profile and will appoint as quickly as possible, but this appointment is for the long term and if it takes us a few months longer than we would have hoped then so be it.

“The delay won’t hinder plans for next season.

“Mark Robinson is a highly experienced Head Coach, supported by long standing Bears, Ian Westwood, and Tony Frost, as well as the new bowling coach, Stuart Barnes. They have put together a plan to address the issues we faced last year and make sure we challenge for honours across red and white ball cricket next season which the players support.

"They’re ready to hit the indoor nets hard in January, with the new signings already bringing a fresh edge to things.

“There is then the wider team who are also cracking on with their jobs. Gary Barwell is one of the best Groundsmen in the game, Paul Greetham runs an excellent talent pathway, Gerhard Mostert is one of the county circuit’s best Heads of Medicine and Keith Cook is running things behind the scenes in the same way as he has done for more than 20 years.

“We know that the team is in good hands and shaping up well for the season ahead. We will keep Members updated on developments regarding the Director of Cricket.”'

So who was it that turned the job down? And what happened to the other two who were supposedly on the short-list?

Could it be Giles, having second thoughts on ANOTHER return?

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/countycricket/warwickshire_drawing_board_first_choice_director_cricket_turns_down_job.html

Simon Insley (?) was the one who turned us down apparently and Giles is one of the two who have been told they won't be in the final shortlist.

I think Giles burned his bridges with leaving twice, so understandable scepticism there. Plus they’ve had Farbace leave now, so as stated in the article they want a long term appointment, hoping that it’ll lead to greater consistency and prolonged success instead of the rollercoaster of the last decade.

But I wonder, is part of the problem for an appointment the fact that Robinson is a famously difficult man to work with? It’s been shown in previous roles that he has success in a short space of time, but then players and coaches do tire of his approach. We’ve seen it already within the coaching staff, Farbrace, and some players, clearly disliking his approach and leaving or falling out with him.

Also is a long term appointment viable anymore? With so many opportunities at an increasing number of franchises, plus more international sides now, will you get DoC’s and top coaches willing to stay for 10 years?

Not sure what others have seen or heard, but seen some interesting rumours floating round on this.
Seems it’s right back to headhunting and applicants again. Lots of names getting chucked about by journo’s, pundits, podcasters etc. 2 of the most commonly mentioned are Steve Rhodes and Chris Adams, both have had success but a whiff of scandal around both.
As usual some old boy names are raised with Dougie Brown seemingly the only realistic contender. Though I wonder with the turning down of Giles there’s been a decision to stay away from the old boy club.

BristolBear wrote:

I think Giles burned his bridges with leaving twice, so understandable scepticism there. Plus they’ve had Farbace leave now, so as stated in the article they want a long term appointment, hoping that it’ll lead to greater consistency and prolonged success instead of the rollercoaster of the last decade.

But I wonder, is part of the problem for an appointment the fact that Robinson is a famously difficult man to work with? It’s been shown in previous roles that he has success in a short space of time, but then players and coaches do tire of his approach. We’ve seen it already within the coaching staff, Farbrace, and some players, clearly disliking his approach and leaving or falling out with him.

Also is a long term appointment viable anymore? With so many opportunities at an increasing number of franchises, plus more international sides now, will you get DoC’s and top coaches willing to stay for 10 years?

Is there much hard evidence that Robinson is hard to work with? I can’t recall seeing much, if anything, beyond rumours.

A friend of a friend said that he met someone in a pub who has a cousin whose next door neighbour's dog once barked angrily when he saw someone who looked a bit like Robinson in the street, so that sounds pretty conclusive to me.

BristolBear wrote:

Not sure what others have seen or heard, but seen some interesting rumours floating round on this.
Seems it’s right back to headhunting and applicants again. Lots of names getting chucked about by journo’s, pundits, podcasters etc. 2 of the most commonly mentioned are Steve Rhodes and Chris Adams, both have had success but a whiff of scandal around both.
As usual some old boy names are raised with Dougie Brown seemingly the only realistic contender. Though I wonder with the turning down of Giles there’s been a decision to stay away from the old boy club.

I would think the decision to steer clear of Giles, is more to do with the fact that he's come back twice and left again, going in not the best or most professional way. I wouldn't have thought there is an overall 'no old boys policy. Dougie left 'properly', not letting us down and moving for entirely understandable reasons. He's moved up in his career and while not having experience in a DoC role, has gained a useful CV, including his current role in Admin with the Pakistan Super League.

Adams, was 'on the shelf' for a long time, until he took the Dutch job, but that was only in a Coaching role. Now he's just doing some school coaching, consultancy and acting as batting scout for England. He has extensive County Cricket Manager experience - but he did leave Sussex under a pretty 'bigish' cloud. Rhodes also has Management experience and his recent work as Coach at Bangladesh was commendable (to begin with at least). However, I think his departure from New Road was because of more culpable reasons than Adams going (it was a real s**t storm!). Adams situation was one many Counties faced and he didn't deal with it well, but I reckon he's 'served his time' (and fellow 'conspirator', Salisbury, has been rehabilitated). I think his main negative, is his lack of work for many years.

While none of the three are wonderful options, I would put Dougie top of my shortlist.

Rhodes would never be acceptable for the DoC role, which is overseasing cricket all through the Warwickshire program.

His role in the Hepburn situation raises a number of very serious safeguarding issues, as well as his record as a poor man manager at Worcestershire and signing Adrian Shankar.

There have to be much better candidates available.

Ah, yes, the Adrian Shankar debacle! As someone said at the time, if you could cross him with Ravi Bopara, you might have a half decent cricketer and you'd have one heck of a sitar player.

Not sure that I'm too thrilled about Irani or Silverwood:
https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/countycricket/ronnie_irani_in_frame_fill_warwickshire_director_cricket_role.html

Both strike me as odd candidates, especially considering the club has approached them.
I wonder if the role isn’t as popular as the club expected.
Silverwood did well as a coach, but hasn’t been a DoC as far as I’m aware. Plus I imagine Sri Lanka would want some compensation which is never ideal.
Irani wasn’t just unpopular over the alcohol accusations if memory serves me right. Plus whilst Essex did well during his reign, I’m not sure how much he contributed, and how much was good timing, considering they had a great crop of home grown youngsters on the squad when he took up his position, plus they had a lot of Alastair Cook after he stepped down from England.

BristolBear wrote:

Both strike me as odd candidates, especially considering the club has approached them.
I wonder if the role isn’t as popular as the club expected.
Silverwood did well as a coach, but hasn’t been a DoC as far as I’m aware. Plus I imagine Sri Lanka would want some compensation which is never ideal.
Irani wasn’t just unpopular over the alcohol accusations if memory serves me right. Plus whilst Essex did well during his reign, I’m not sure how much he contributed, and how much was good timing, considering they had a great crop of home grown youngsters on the squad when he took up his position, plus they had a lot of Alastair Cook after he stepped down from England.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/essex-ronnie-irani-alastair-cook-25189227

You're right BB, Irani fell out with a few at Essex, not just Cook. He's obviously a fairly abrasive character and one who perhaps finds it difficult to delegate, or let go of day to day 'hands on' control. I'm not sure how that would go down at Edgbaston - and particularly how he'd get on with Robinson.

Bald_Reynard wrote:

BristolBear wrote:

Both strike me as odd candidates, especially considering the club has approached them.
I wonder if the role isn’t as popular as the club expected.
Silverwood did well as a coach, but hasn’t been a DoC as far as I’m aware. Plus I imagine Sri Lanka would want some compensation which is never ideal.
Irani wasn’t just unpopular over the alcohol accusations if memory serves me right. Plus whilst Essex did well during his reign, I’m not sure how much he contributed, and how much was good timing, considering they had a great crop of home grown youngsters on the squad when he took up his position, plus they had a lot of Alastair Cook after he stepped down from England.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/essex-ronnie-irani-alastair-cook-25189227

You're right BB, Irani fell out with a few at Essex, not just Cook. He's obviously a fairly abrasive character and one who perhaps finds it difficult to delegate, or let go of day to day 'hands on' control. I'm not sure how that would go down at Edgbaston - and particularly how he'd get on with Robinson.

I agree with BR about Irani. A decent record, but a difficult management style, which will have to be dealt with. And I agree with BB, Silverwood has a good Coaching pedigree, but his lack of DoC / Senior Management experience, is a sizeable hindrance.

If the Board feel that either can overcome (or progress from) those negatives, then I suppose both could be decent appointments, but that is a big ask.

I also find the Irani link a strange one. On top of the unrest at the end of his Essex reign our own dressing room was hardly the most harmonious of places last season. Would such an appointment add fuel to any lingering fire, or do we feel the departures (most of which I wasn't happy to see) will have settled matters down?

With this dragging on for so long, I assume Robinson is the one now tasked with choosing overseas’, and dealing with all the nonsense that comes with it. As well as all the other contract negotiations that go on this time of year for players in their last year.
Not exactly what you want your coach doing, especially as the team will be on their preseason tour come February or March.

They need the right person, but they also need to hurry up and get it sorted asap.