Seeing an Indian Premier League auction without Richard Madley will perhaps leave many fans disappointed. Madley had carved his own place in the fans’ part with his beautifully conducted auctions. His voice, the hitting of the hammer, saying sold is very familiar among the fans. And the reasons are obvious. Madley has been conducting the auctions since the inaugural season of the IPL.
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However, the upcoming auction will see a new man replacing Madley. And not only the fans, Madley himself is disappointed with the turn of the events. But the reasons are a bit different. Madley recently revealed how he was treated and let down by BCCI.
“I’m sad, disappointed and a little bit let down and deflated,” Madley was quoted as saying by Cricketnext.
He further said that the decision to remove him came out ‘ as a bolt out of the blue’. He revealed that he was shocked to hear the news especially after the praise he received for his work in the past eleven seasons.
“It’s not my decision, it’s the decision of the BCCI combined with IMG. It has come as a bit of a shock to me after 11 unbroken years of conducting the auction and always receiving positive comments and feedback from the franchise owners, administrators, BCCI and my many fans. It has come as a bolt out of the blue – to be released, to use an IPL term – without reason or explanation.
Madley will be replaced by Hugh Edmeades – an independent fine art, classic car and charity auctioneer. Edmeades has a massive experience of over 30 years in this field. He, however, is not much impressed with his replacement.
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“I have been told that the BCCI wants to ‘change up’ the auction with a new venue, new timings and I assumed then that they were going to bring in a newer, younger auctioneer. Perhaps an Indian auctioneer, which would be perfectly logical. Therefore I was surprised when my replacement is a British auctioneer, older than me, more grey hairs, heavier! He’s a good friend of mine, I’ve known Hugh for many years. But he’s a first class art auctioneer who has no experience of IPL. Therefore, it is illogical to me to replace me with somebody who is almost my mirror image. That, to me, is the one area that hurts.
“I was thinking that if I was going to be replaced, it would be a seed change in the auction and not a simple substitution without rhyme, reason or logic. Is it fair, equitable or honourable? So naturally I feel somewhat bruised,” he said,
Madley was also not happy that he was not given any explanation for releasing him and especially the way the matter was dealt with by BCCI.
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“I was asked in early November if I was available to conduct the auction. I confirmed my availability and heard back from IMG/BCCI two weeks back with a one-line e-mail saying ‘Your services are not required. We have chosen a replacement auctioneer’. No explanation, no thanks for the 11 years of service, and no reason whatsoever. I was shocked,” said a disappointed Madley.
The upcoming auction, meanwhile, will be held in Jaipur on December 18. The auction will not be a two-day affair this time around. Initially more than 1000 players including 232 foreigners had registered for the 70 spots up for grabs. The BCCI later released a list of 346 shortlisted players.
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