30-03-2014, 09:38 PM
amuir Wrote:Hi,
I would like to go off the noticeboard for a month but since a moderator has posted, here is what I sent to the team yesterday :
"Hi
Some final thoughts on the captaincy:
The ID has selected the captain for at least 15 years if not more since he is in charge of the budget.
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In 2006 Jacob Aagaard said: "The International Director has not had a say in the selection process, except for that of the coaches, which has been the decision of the International Director alone. "
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2002 : Captain: Alan Minnican , Alan is the International Director of Chess Scotland and has acting as an enthusiastic team captain at the Istanbul Olympiad, Lyon Euro Champs and now the Bled Olympiad.
The only time the Open team has finished above seeding since 1990 was 2000 when Alan Minnican was ID and captain.
In future I want the captain to be a CS member decided by the selectors not the ID. I shall not be standing for captain in 2016.
This is what I will be saying if I meet people at congresses or if there is a polite discussion on the noticeboard when I return to it in May.
It is time to move on from this topic as I want to have good relations with all the squad and think how we can do well in Tromso.
Andy"
Andy M,
I don't understand why you couldn't answer the most basic of questions over the last week or so? Did you choose yourself as captain? The answer is, it appears, yes. Not damning in itself (though not a good idea).
The problem arises when your team/squad is almost entirely (perhaps fully?) unhappy with this decision (unlike Alan Minnican's captaincies) and makes this clear to you in no uncertain terms - this makes it an issue which needs to be dealt with.
To then go ahead and book your flights while such unhappiness is being made clear to you is completely wrong, and here it becomes a major issue extending to the wider CS membership - those who are funding the teams and would expect our (admittedly voluntary) directors to act in an ethical and openly honest manner.
The worst thing here, however, is that Andy Muir - in the face of honest criticism, a clearly unhappy team and a worsening situation - has not once offered to reconsider his (unilateral) decision to be captain.
To end, it is not 'time to move on from this issue' - it is time for it to be dealt with at a higher level, something Andy M. himself ought to have pushed for when it became clear he wasn't supported by his team.