Big interview

'He's got to realise there's a time and place for everything'

England's former coach is sensitive to criticism of his candour and fears it might overshadow his record. Click here for audio extracts from the interview
Duncan Fletcher
Fletcher says he is shocked by the reaction to his book. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian

In the gloom of his hotel room, as darkness spreads across London, Duncan Fletcher shakes his head mournfully. After a week in which his reputation has been battered by an indignant response to the revelations in his new autobiography, the former England coach looks dejected. He is also, more strangely, bemused that the way in which he exposes Andrew Flintoff as being drunk at an England practice session during their disastrous tour of Australia last winter should have elicited such a fevered reaction.

"I genuinely didn't expect it would create this [controversy]," Fletcher says. "I thought one of the big areas would have been the Schofield Report because I was very hurt about that. I criticised it, rightly I thought, and so I believed that would be the major issue."

Even when it is suggested that the drunkenness of England's captain would inevitably be a more eye-catching story than the Schofield Report into the failing structure of cricket in this country Fletcher appears surprised. Yet it is an issue he now has to confront repeatedly as he publicises a book which, for all its merit and candour, will haunt both himself and Flintoff.

Among his many detractors Flintoff's father, Colin, has lambasted the book as a money-making exercise which trashes all codes of dressing-room loyalty. "The point is that I'm not making money out of it," says Fletcher, bristling. "I don't think royalties will come into it - we won't reach the amount of books you need to sell [to earn royalty payments]. So it's not a money thing."

Skating over the sizeable advance received from his publishers, as well as the significant profit attached to the Daily Mail's exhaustive serialisation last week, Fletcher sounds plaintive. "Can people think of how it hurt me and how people were seeing me for something I didn't do? Everyone's attention turned to me after [Flintoff's] pedalo incident because I'm the coach. I'm getting blamed for something I didn't do. What about the other way round? Did anyone say poor old blinking Duncan? He's got to deal with this and with that.

"I wanted to put my side of the story across - to show how serious it was and how I had to deal with it. I also wanted to get across the difficulties of coaching England at that time, when expectations were so high. People were saying the problems were this and I wanted to say: 'No, the problems were elsewhere.' I'm trying to clear up these contentious issues."

Fletcher is brutally clear in regard to Flintoff's drinking. His behaviour in Australia was just one of many incidents, reaching its lowest point with the player's dunk in a pedalo during the World Cup earlier this year. Fletcher says he supported Flintoff until then. "I think my loyalty was shown by a serious situation [in Australia] where I thought: 'No, let's keep this quiet and just get on with it.' But then in the book I had to directly link that situation to the Fredalo affair because you think, 'No, enough's enough. I've been really let down here."

It is still surprising to read that, in Australia, a supposedly iron-willed coach was swayed more by his fear of a media reaction than his own gut-instinct to strip Flintoff of the captaincy. "From my point of view you're sitting there on your own. You would normally have a fellow selector to discuss the problem but because Andrew was the captain I had to give thought to this myself.

"Up to that point we had been beaten by the Aussies on numerous occasions. We'd had one win against New Zealand. So to have taken the decision then would have been enormous. Look at this book for example. Just imagine if this happened in Australia - it would have been a huge reaction. I also thought what's best for this team? To [expose Flintoff] could break the spirit of the side. I decided that the best thing was to carry on."

When asked if, with hindsight, he would make the same decision and bow to his fear of a media storm Fletcher eventually agrees. "It's very difficult for me to look at it now. You can't imagine the heat there was at the time. [But] I have a slight feeling that, through that loyalty thing, I would probably have just carried on. And if the pedalo affair hadn't happened I wouldn't have mentioned it."

Does Flintoff have any drink-related problems? "I wouldn't say that. It's very difficult to judge. People are asking you certain questions as though you're a psychiatrist or an Alcoholics Anonymous specialist. I don't like passing judgment unless I know the subject. I just think he's got to realise there's a time and place for everything."

Fletcher suggests that he partly chose Flintoff as captain because he was anxious that the all-rounder, if overlooked in favour of Andrew Strauss, would have concentrated instead on his benefit year. Flintoff might be flawed but surely Fletcher did not believe his commitment to England would waver so selfishly? "No, well, I wouldn't," Fletcher begins, almost swallowing his words before speaking more clearly. "You give Andrew Flintoff the ball and he's an individual who will give it his all. I just felt that at the time there was talk of a function here and a function there. I had to say: 'Look, you're captain, you've got to be careful of this. We're over here to play cricket.' I was worried that, if he wasn't captain, would those functions have taken place and would his mind have been totally on the game? You don't know."

Fletcher is more certain that England's current captaincy policy under Peter Moores is mistaken. Having briefly endured two captains in his own tenure, when Nasser Hussain led the Test team and Michael Vaughan was in charge of the one-day side, Fletcher pinpoints the shortcomings. Vaughan and Paul Collingwood now share the captaincy role and he argues that "when people are under pressure they can act funnily and think: 'Who do I turn to here?' You'll now find some will feel comfortable with Collingwood and turn to him when he's not captain of the Test side. It can create all sorts of problems."

Fletcher reveals that, during England nets, he would purposely ignore Vaughan in order not to upset Hussain. "You go across to Vaughan and then you think: 'Now hold on, I have to go to Nasser.' It's not easy."

If he had continued as England coach, Fletcher would have asked Vaughan to captain both teams. "I haven't spoken to Vaughan about his injury but I still think he's a very good one-day cricketer. I would therefore have made Vaughan captain of both forms of the game. But this is a unique situation where nothing is black and white and maybe what they are doing is right - just to see if Vaughan's knee gets stronger and he can play both. There's no doubt Vaughan is a very good captain and you might just have to run with it."

His lack of belief in Chris Read and Monty Panesar is more pronounced. If he is initially taken aback by a question as to who is the best wicketkeeper in England, Fletcher grudgingly admits: "Read would be close." Yet he is, in Fletcher's opinion, too quiet to make the grade in Test cricket. "He gets stuck in as a batter and, if he wasn't a wicketkeeper, he'd be fine. If he was at backward point he'd be OK but you can't have too many of those blokes in your side. Your critical mass has to be one of aggression, and the key figure is the wicketkeeper."

Panesar is still regarded by Fletcher as a luxury rather than a match-winner. "It's the balance of the side. If Flintoff plays and you've got Stuart Broad - a very fine cricketer who has the potential to bat at No8 - then you can play your finger-spinner. Look at the one-dayers. Would England have beaten India if they hadn't had Broad at No9? They also wouldn't have won that big one in Sri Lanka. If Broad develops, then you can play a finger-spinner who can't bat. But you still have to field."

Fletcher insists there is no personal friction with players he has never trusted. "They're really good boys," he says of Read and Panesar. "I enjoyed working with them. And I'll never forget a fantastic moment with Monty. I knew in my last game as coach the West Indies were going to bomb Monty because he can't bat. He was ducking and I'd say: 'No, Monty, you've got to lean back and use your bat.' And when he started doing it people said, 'But you're going' and I was like, 'Yes, but this is great.' After such a sad time it was a thrill as Monty started using his bat."

Fletcher's emotion is most evident when he remembers the day he told his players, in Barbados, he was resigning. "I don't like this being written down because it could sound bad but I genuinely thought it was like being at a funeral. There was this quietness. Some guys had tears in their eyes. They were just staring at the ground. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was like something had shocked them and they didn't know what to do. They were dumbfounded. It was incredible. It was like someone getting out of a car accident and thinking what the hell has happened here?"

Did Flintoff share that grief-stricken mood? "I think, at that stage, he may have known he'd played a part in this - you would assume." One word follows when he is asked if Flintoff said anything to him that day? "No."

In the dark there is just time for one last subdued thought. Does he worry that his exceptional record as England coach is in danger of being tarnished by this recent bitterness? "Definitely," Fletcher murmurs. "My track record is relatively successful but to finish in that way will take time to get over. But I've had a few tough times in my life - this is just another one I've got to get through."

Behind The Shades by Duncan Fletcher is out now, published by Simon & Schuster priced £18.99

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