Nine’s dismissal leaves Captain Cliche scoreless
WHATEVER unspeakable thing Michael Clarke did to fall out of favour with the Australian public, let’s hope he derived colossal pleasure doing it because for Clarke, in the popularity stakes and professionally, 2018 has been a total train wreck.
Opinion
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OVERLOOKED for one of 51 TV commentary spots in television’s upcoming monster summer of cricket, Michael Clarke has suffered the indignity of also being dumped by Channel Nine from his $300,000-a-year TV contract.
Clarke joined Nine in 2014 when the then injured Australian cricket captain was recruited as a guest commentator for its coverage of the third Test.
A celebrated TV contract followed but that contract has now lapsed and Clarke dumped – possibly because viewer feedback indicated he was the most unpopular cricketer Nine has ever employed, possibly because critics slammed his commentary as “too clichéd” or maybe because some cricket fans went to the trouble of setting up a Go Fund Me petition to have him terminated for, among his sins, sucking “excess mouth spit in through the sides of his mouth”.
It seems unlikely “excess spit” was a deterrent to Clarke’s employment prospects across town at Nine’s sporting rivals Fox Sports and Channel Seven, who earlier this year plundered Nine’s stores and pinched its cricket broadcast rights.
Since securing the rights in April, executives at Fox Sports and Seven have been frantically working the phones to recruit 48 – yes, that number again, 48 - expert cricket commentators for the forthcoming summer season.
Despite the extraordinary size of their commentary teams – Fox has 30 commentators, Seven has 18 - neither has offered a microphone to Clarke.
Nine meanwhile has retained veterans Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor for future cricket coverage and dropped Clarke, Mark Nicholas and Michael Slater, who was picked up by 7.
Missing out on one of 51 TV commentary positions must hurt – though it would hurt considerably less had radio affiliates come calling, which to date, they have not.
Radio networks Macquarie, ABC and Melbourne’s SEN have all also given Clarke a wide berth.
Oh the indignity of being yesterday’s hero.
On Friday one TV producer did his best to defend Clarke’s commentary: “He’s a good tactical commentator but a man few cricketers like”.
The broad media snub probably isn’t even the greatest insult Clarke has suffered this year.
That, surely, was the rebuff Clarke received from his old bosses at Cricket Australia who in March declined his offer of “help” - or captaincy depending on one’s interpretation of “help” - in the aftermath of the South African ball tampering scandal.
Add to this a year peppered with poorly advised business partnerships and Clarke might want to give some serious thought to sacking his managers or advisors or whomever it is he has installed to conduct due diligence on his behalf.
On paper, 2018 has been a train wreck for Clarke.
On Friday came media reports Global Tech, a Brisbane-based crypto trading exchange Clarke signed on to promote in August in the hope of helping them raise $50 million, had been shut down and ASIC started making enquiries about the company that according to reports is now in the process of being voluntarily deregistered.
Clarke’s celebrity endorsement of Global came on the back of his endorsement of another company, sporting merchandise company Spartan, which also ran into financial difficulty earlier this year.
Clarke was signed to a six figure contract, said to be $500,000, with bat sponsor Spartan in 2012.
In May this year, Spartan Sporting Group, run by Clarke’s “great friend” Kunal Sharma, was put into liquidation by creditors owing, according to Fairfax Media, $8.5 million. Sharma disputed the figure and said it was $4.2 million.
According to the report, Clarke too was owed money, but later paid.
Not so cricketer Mitchell Johnson who midyear initiated proceedings against Spartan.
“I’ve got a great relationship with Spartan and have been with them for a long period of time,” Clarke said earlier this year. “And I have a great relationship with Kunal the owner.”
Whether that relationship - and sponsorship - endures remains to be seen.
Another sponsor to recently turn its back on Clarke is Crown Resorts which in 2013, amidst much fanfare and backed by James Packer, signed the then Australian captain to a lucrative six figure contract to promote Packer’s gaming empire in Sri Lanka. Clarke was dropped as part of wider cost-cuttings at Crown - that contract also believed to have been worth $500,000 a year to the retired batsman.
Happily we can report Clarke is still able to put bread on the table in Vaucluse.
He maintains a media association with TV broadcaster Star in India, and, we’re informed, can make as much as much as $20,000 a day as a commentator working abroad.
He also continues to flog Swiss watchmaker Hublot, Macarthur BMW, Ribco inflatable and Chemist Warehouse to his Instagram fans who seem oblivious to the fact their sporting idol’s star looks to be in decline.