da dobrowin： Rod Bransgrove is to stand down as chief executive of Hampshire aswell as the plc and events operations at West End, from December 1.
Ivo Tennant29-Oct-2012
The friendship of cricketers like Shane Warne has been a spin-off benefit for Rod Bransgrove’s service to Hampshire•AFP
Rod Bransgrove is to stand down as chief executive of Hampshire aswell as the plc and events operations at West End, from December 1.Although he intends to spend more time out of the country in winter,he will continue as chairman of the Rose Bowl group and is looking to fulfil his final ambition at the ground in 2019, the staging of an Ashes Test match. He has slain the financial obstacles. Now for the ECB.As Bransgrove points out, West End is the one Test ground in the country yet to be awarded an Ashes Test. Lobbying has already begun. By 2019, this resilient and articulate businessman will be almost 70 – but not as old, he is quick to add, as the members of the Rolling Stones, whom he would like to see perform on the ground he has financed heavily ever since Hampshire’s move from run-down Northlands Road in 2001.Last year, when the inaugural Test was staged at West End,Bransgrove’s personal investment was thought to be £6.5m. Now, thissum is “well in excess of £10m”. He does not anticipate a return inthe near future and has not drawn a salary in his 12 years as chiefexecutive. “It has been said that I am in this for the money,” he said. “Maybe that has now been retracted.”The business has been very much a part of me and it will be verydifficult to wrestle me away from it entirely. I’ll always have anopinion, which I hope my successor, David Mann, will listen to, but Idon’t expect to have to work as hard as I have done over the past 12years. I am not an old 62, but it is an ambition of mine not to haveto work full-time.”My energy levels have not deteriorated and I am hungry for moresuccess, but it has never been a secret that the company needed morefunding and we can move forward with confidence now that EastleighBorough Council has provided that. It is great to look out of thewindow and see the hotel being constructed on the ground.” The Council’s investment is £45m.Fund-raising, as opposed to the staging of international cricket, hasbeen Bransgrove’s biggest achievement, he reckons. He could have addedthat – but for his own personal investment, drawn from the capital heacquired through the flotation of Shire Pharmaceuticals whichspecialised in hormone replacement therapy – Hampshire would never havemoved grounds. The spin-off for him, other than the development of asignificant and attractive international venue, has been thefriendships of cricketers such as Sir Ian Botham, Shane Warne, RobinSmith and the journeymen. Even, he might add in his sardonic way, thejournalists.The downside has been differences of opinion with the ECB. “I havefelt once or twice we have been overlooked in the international arena,but then there have been the trophies we have won. Our policy ofmixing talented young players with experienced old ones definitelyworks well and what I want to do now is to watch them performthroughout the day without my having other concerns.”A typical day, he revealed, starts off “when I am at my grumpiest”with personal correspondence at home (he is a non-executive directorof other companies) followed by the 16-mile drive to the ground fromhis home on the edge of the Test Valley. He will remain there until 7p.m. and will often be involved in a business function in the evening,drinking, by preference, Montrachet rather than Chablis. “Probably mylife has been dedicated to my business interests.”As he prepares to build a house for himself and his family in theCaribbean – “not Mustique” – he will hand over to Mann, who is norelation to the former England captain, George Mann, or indeed hisbuccaneering son Simon, but a 48 year-old village cricketer andfinance director who lives in Southampton. The idea now is that WestEnd will become a hub for the local community as well as a venue forcricket, concerts and other sports.Whatever is taking place, you can bet that Bransgrove, even in hisdotage, will be keeping a paternal eye on events. “Combining the rolesof chairman and chief executive is not great governance, but thecompany is now on a reasonably stable footing. I don’t want to take onany other position in the game. This has been a massive passion – buta bit of a pain at times.”