‘I am duty-bound to fully back Lawson’ - Butt
In what appears to be a softening of his earlier stance, Ijaz Butt, the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said he bears no grudge against Geoff Lawson, the Pakistan coach, and that the PCB will continue to support him through the rest of his contract period.
**“As the PCB chairman, I am duty-bound to fully back Lawson and to take care of all his liabilities,” Butt told Dawn. “What I said in the press conference was my personal opinion **which I had also given to the then chairman Nasim Ashraf.” Butt added that Lawson would be given whatever support was needed to help him improve Pakistan’s performances on the field.
In his first press conference as chairman, Butt had given an unusually harsh assessment of Lawson’s tenure as coach, concluding that Pakistan had “no utility for him.” He also said that his contract would not be renewed once it was over.
Cricinfo has also learnt that efforts at a reconciliation of sorts with Lawson have been made by the chairman. Speaking to Cricinfo, Lawson revealed that there had been no contact with Butt since he took over. But it is believed that a message has been passed on to Lawson through a third party that there “may have been some misunderstanding” over the initial comments made by Butt.
Cricinfo - ‘I am duty-bound to fully back Lawson’ - Butt
What a clown Uncle Butt is proving to be in his early days… As chairman of the PCB how could you give your personal opinions about the national coach at a press conference??? That means from now onwards any player can also get away with controversial statements by claiming that it was their personal opinion and not official opinion. Akhtar aur Afridi kay tu mazay aagiey.
I guess all this will result in Lawson leaving this job before his contract expires which I think what Uncle Butt and Co. wants. I can see the next coach to be a Pakistani 