The thing is this book is rather pointless. It serves no purpose, looking in from the outside I feel that Pietersen was a victim of a bunch of jealous cats in the dressing room who were minions to a control freak manager. The manager was a poor man manager, his primary role one would say, who let the dressing room get partitioned.
Talented players are often eccentric and hard to manage, and its the job of the manager to work around that and get the best out of the player. KP for all the demonising was still Eng's highest run scorer in the Ashes. How can his commitment be questioned in the face of this fact is beyond reason.
However, from Pietersen's point of view, the book achieves little and is really one last big paycheck. However which ever side of the debate you are on, there is only one winner in all of this and that is KP.
Those who wronged him will get their due, eventually, if they already haven't. Andy Flower is gone. He deserved to be booted really, but he resigned and no tears were shed, and that is its own reward in a way. Also with the terrible reputation on man management he leaves with, he is unlikely to find too many more takers rushing to sign him anytime soon. It will be a surprise if he ever gets another real job in coaching.
Prior too was booted for his loss in form. The injury is blatantly clear a convenient excuse to provide a cover up. His England career is done. Swann sort of got away by retiring, but KP's legacy, is still far far bigger than Swann's, and that is no small consolation in itself. At any rate, the lure of the T20 riches, that turned Prior and Swann, into jealous cats to begin with, will forever elude these two. KP will continue to mint it on the high paying T20 circuit for a few years to come, while they can watch as do commentary or write lame newspaper columns, mostly trying to bash the money in domestic T20 and how its a bad thing. I definitely see how it was a bad thing for Swann and Prior!
There remains Cook, although its clear that KP has no real beef with him apart from the fact that there were always very interesting things going on with his shoe. Its true that India's lack of any kind of a spine in the last three tests gave him a respite for the time being, but next year's WC and Ashes should really be it for him in all likelihood.
KP leaves with a bigger legacy in the game than any of the minnion lot, and the reason that the minnions started going at KP to begin with, T20 riches, will never be theirs any way. KP will keep getting richer, and the eyes of minions will keep getting greener.
Lastly the one big disappointment was when, KP when playing for Surrey was booed by the fans. When I read it, I said that is a total disgrace. The fans don't owe their allegiance to one clique within the team. Fans owe their allegiance to everyone who played for their side, and once he is out, for whatever reasons, they need to thank they player for what he did on the field. Fans are supposed to not care about the "inside" gossip within a team. Who is a player close to, who is he friends with, who are his enemies, etc. Its not some reality show.
To boo, KP because of the Flower Clique, and forget all the thousands of runs he scored, and the numerous matches he won for you and was a disgrace. Disgrace not for KP, but for those who booed him that day.
KP is the only winner from all of this. He leaves with a bigger cricketing legacy and much richer than the lot. What did the rest of them get out of this? Nothing.
Talented players are often eccentric and hard to manage, and its the job of the manager to work around that and get the best out of the player. KP for all the demonising was still Eng's highest run scorer in the Ashes. How can his commitment be questioned in the face of this fact is beyond reason.
However, from Pietersen's point of view, the book achieves little and is really one last big paycheck. However which ever side of the debate you are on, there is only one winner in all of this and that is KP.
Those who wronged him will get their due, eventually, if they already haven't. Andy Flower is gone. He deserved to be booted really, but he resigned and no tears were shed, and that is its own reward in a way. Also with the terrible reputation on man management he leaves with, he is unlikely to find too many more takers rushing to sign him anytime soon. It will be a surprise if he ever gets another real job in coaching.
Prior too was booted for his loss in form. The injury is blatantly clear a convenient excuse to provide a cover up. His England career is done. Swann sort of got away by retiring, but KP's legacy, is still far far bigger than Swann's, and that is no small consolation in itself. At any rate, the lure of the T20 riches, that turned Prior and Swann, into jealous cats to begin with, will forever elude these two. KP will continue to mint it on the high paying T20 circuit for a few years to come, while they can watch as do commentary or write lame newspaper columns, mostly trying to bash the money in domestic T20 and how its a bad thing. I definitely see how it was a bad thing for Swann and Prior!
There remains Cook, although its clear that KP has no real beef with him apart from the fact that there were always very interesting things going on with his shoe. Its true that India's lack of any kind of a spine in the last three tests gave him a respite for the time being, but next year's WC and Ashes should really be it for him in all likelihood.
KP leaves with a bigger legacy in the game than any of the minnion lot, and the reason that the minnions started going at KP to begin with, T20 riches, will never be theirs any way. KP will keep getting richer, and the eyes of minions will keep getting greener.
Lastly the one big disappointment was when, KP when playing for Surrey was booed by the fans. When I read it, I said that is a total disgrace. The fans don't owe their allegiance to one clique within the team. Fans owe their allegiance to everyone who played for their side, and once he is out, for whatever reasons, they need to thank they player for what he did on the field. Fans are supposed to not care about the "inside" gossip within a team. Who is a player close to, who is he friends with, who are his enemies, etc. Its not some reality show.
To boo, KP because of the Flower Clique, and forget all the thousands of runs he scored, and the numerous matches he won for you and was a disgrace. Disgrace not for KP, but for those who booed him that day.
KP is the only winner from all of this. He leaves with a bigger cricketing legacy and much richer than the lot. What did the rest of them get out of this? Nothing.
