BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – John Dyson was sacked as West Indies coach because he had not signed his contract for the 18 months he held the job.
Conde Riley, a director of the West Indies Cricket Board from Barbados, disclosed that the regional governing body had no choice but to dismiss Dyson.
Riley, a retired investment banker, is the first vice-president of the Barbados Cricket Association, and also sits on the WICB’s finance, as well as human resources committees.
“When an employee has not signed a contract for 18 months, he cannot be serious and therefore you don’t have to have a reason [for termination] – it’s a straightforward case,” said Riley at a WICB news conference on Tuesday.
“The directors – like myself – are not responsible for the day-to-day management of the WICB. There is a chief executive officer, who looks after those matters, and is to make sure that all the contracts that are supposed to be signed are signed.
“The directors meet once a quarter, committees may meet in between at times, but officially we meet once a quarter, and we then enquire of the CEO if so-and-so has been done, and over a period of time, the directors take a decision.”
Dyson has been temporarily replaced by former Trinidad & Tobago captain and West Indies wicketkeeper David Williams, who is set to condition the team for the ICC Champions Trophy starting later this month in South Africa.
Riley acknowledged that having an employee in such a key position working without a signed contract was untenable for the WICB.
“People would say we were weak, or that he should not have started to work, but there were two CEOs who were employed with Mr. Dyson, who were trying to get [him to sign],” said Riley.
“We discussed it [at a meeting] last November in Antigua. Mr. Dyson was at that meeting, and then the team was off to New Zealand, came back, played against England and Bangladesh, and the directors took a decision.
“It is a very unsafe position to be in when people don’t sign contracts and you are paying them in accordance with the provisions of the contract.”
Dyson was fired, after the disastrous home series defeats to Bangladesh in Tests and One-day Internationals, when West Indies fielded a severely depleted line-up.
This followed a contractual row between the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association, when the majority of the leading players withdrew from consideration.
Dyson had been appointed to the position two years ago, following the departure of fellow Australian Bennett King, but he was almost immediately the target of ridicule, when he failed to show-up for the tour of Zimbabwe at the end of 2007.
He however, helped the side to a victory on the subsequent tour of South Africa, when they captured the opening Test at Port Elizabeth for their first Test win since May 2005, and first outside of the Caribbean in seven years.
Under Dyson, West Indies won three Tests, drew seven, and lost nine, and fared no better in ODIs with a 9-25 win-loss ratio.
