KEITH PEEL Paul Newman says a refusal to model himself on Sven-Goran Eriksson was one reason why he decided to resign as Norfolk team manager. Newman claims he was told he was too close to the players - and needed to become a jacket and tie-wearing member of the county's executive committee.

KEITH PEEL

Paul Newman says a refusal to model himself on Sven-Goran Eriksson was one reason why he decided to resign as Norfolk team manager.

Newman claims he was told he was too close to the players - and needed to become a jacket and tie-wearing member of the county's executive committee.

“I can't be that,” he said. “I have to be a tracksuit man. I have to be in the dressing room.

“I have to see what makes guys tick, what makes them perform. I need to understand what's going through their heads when they've got the ball in their hands or they're batting under pressure.

“I can't sit back and do it any other way. I wouldn't be true to myself.

“I find it a ludicrous comment that, because I'm a team manager, I have to wear a jacket and tie like Sven-Goran Eriksson.

“I'm afraid I can't be like that. I need a tracksuit and I need to be in the dressing room with the lads.”

Norfolk CCC chairman Keith Bray has said that, for various reasons, it was intended to re-structure the coaching and cricket administration next year.

Speaking to Matt Gudgin in a Radio Norfolk interview, Newman countered: “The cricketing side works and I'm totally and utterly at a loss as to why they needed to change things.

“It's certainly not, in my opinion, for financial reasons, which is one reason given.

“I think is just a smokescreen. That's not the real reason. There are personal agendas involved here which I'm not prepared to go into. I don't believe that reason and never will believe that reason.”

He added: “I feel that I have been valued by the committee for nine of the 10 years I've been involved with Norfolk, but I certainly feel I've been under-valued in the last 12 months.

“That time has been particularly difficult because I've been kept out of the loop, so to speak.

“I found that frustrating in the first instance, then irritating and now totally unacceptable, and I've decided I don't want to be a part of it any longer.”