PSA - Ziad Al Turki

[squashsite]

I have just picked up this link - regarding the PSA / Ziad Al Turki - very interesting!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... Turki.html

[SFsquasher]

Great article. If professional squash makes big strides, Mr. Al Turki will undoubtedly be the man leading the charge. He is just the kind of visionary this game needs and he obviously loves the game itself and isn't just some businessman.

[paul8241]

That answers a lot of questions, I think I prefer Grahams ideas of Namibia and Australia.

I'm concerned that he isn't just a wealthy sponsor that has hijacked the establishment. The people with the money will invariably want their own agenda and when they get bored or jaded, pull everything out. This is a dangerous position squash puts itself in. Graham would not have left so abruptly if he had Al Turki's support or the board weren't all terrified of Al Turki pulling out. This article is just media spin, there would be a different story told by the fly on the wall. Give Graham the microphone and take his gag off.

With his power and business influence, when Ziad Al Turki walks out on the sport all the sponsors will move with him. He's already bought his own tournament, but who's to say that one country is more worthy of another to host a major tournament, apparently him.

The sport needs solid management, not a wealthy benefactor. Don't confuse his power and wealth with being the right man for the job. It's just influence, and it seems good but could be very bad, it depends on his agenda.

[Stevo]

The sport needs solid management, not a wealthy benefactor

Well said Paul. I also read on another site that talks about squash that the consultancy firm hired by the PSA has ties to the ATCO group ... one person with so much power can't be good.

[SFsquasher]

The sport needs solid management, not a wealthy benefactor. Don't confuse his power and wealth with being the right man for the job. It's just influence, and it seems good but could be very bad, it depends on his agenda.

I'm not so sure about that. Without Al Turki, this sport would be on life support. We wouldn't even have had the Superseries finals in Manchester for the past 2 years if it weren't for him. Remember when it was suddenly canceled in 2007 and ATCO stepped in immediately to save it? We've had "solid management" for the past decade or so and look where its gotten us. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I for one am happy he has intervened...for now.

[Viper]

For example, the sight of two players being slowly raised in transportable glass courts – gladiator-style – from beneath the ground is one of the ideas being mooted.

Warning...warning.......warning..................

OMG, what about the revolutionary idea of making the bloody ball clear and visable to your potential audience first and foremost, especially the general public who do not play the game at a good level and are not equiped to know where the ball is going to go in most cases as they cannot read the racket movement like a good level squash player can.

How about good tv production that can bring the watcher close and inside the court rather than the current vision ( if you can find any on tv in the first place )

[erhjt]

In reply to the last post, agreed about the ball. what about doing what they did in 2001 and using a slightly larger, yellow ball for the super series finals. it helps - that tournament televised exceptionally well and the squash was awesome.

[helicopter_swing]

For example, the sight of two players being slowly raised in transportable glass courts – gladiator-style – from beneath the ground is one of the ideas being mooted.

Warning...warning.......warning..................

OMG, what about the revolutionary idea of making the bloody ball clear and visable to your potential audience first and foremost, especially the general public who do not play the game at a good level and are not equiped to know where the ball is going to go in most cases as they cannot read the racket movement like a good level squash player can.

I share your ringing the alarm bells about this sort of gimmickry. Let's have the razzmataz and showmanship once we've got decent coverage and decent audience figures and not put the cart before the horse.

As far as making the game more viewable goes, technology has gone against us. Not at the broadcast end. Everyone has bought these so-called HD-ready LCD TV's with 8ms response time - bad enough for watching football etc but absolutely hopeless for squash.

[Viper]

Silly to play around with pop up floors when the fundamentals are poor

[paul8241]

A CEO should be answering to a board of directors on matters of the performance of their contract, not notifying them on every negotiation that he is entering into. If he wants to make a media release, he is the Chief Executive Officer, not the receptionist, it's part of his mandate.

This board should have stepped back, and this is the worst possible situation the sport could be in.

So, I'm putting the call out .....

If Ziad Al Turki has spoken to you personally about the state of the sport and how to fix it, and you feel that he's the right man, create a profile on here and defend his position. He's spent years doing this according to the article, so this board should fill up very quickly.

Make sure you include (1) What country you are from? (2) What club you play at? (3) What level you play at?

I doubt that any of these people would have suggested bring in all your own people and make yourself indispensible.

It is so simple, if you want to make squash popular you have to make the top 20-30 players famous. Fame brings sponsors and inspires new players. You can't make people famous if nobody in their own country knows who they are, and the viewers have to pay 3 pound per match to see 2 people play (in high definition).

[Adrian]

That would actually be a good addition to have a court with a rising gladiator floor. It'll be great for the hundred or so spectators that will get to see it at the tournaments. Won't be too great at all for the rest of us. I guess there's always youtube...

If they just could get squash regularly on tv it'd make a huge difference. HUGE I SAYS!!

[flash]

Agree regarding the benefits of getting the game on TV. However the PSA will need to lift their game regarding the standard of production to put on TV. We get the occasional PSA Superseries game on Pay TV here and it looks like two people ghosting around a court - the ball is almost invisible. Compare this to the crystal clear product that Delierre delivers and it just looks embarrassing for the PSA. At the end of the day they just need to spend what it takes to get a good product across on TV. If they pay peanuts they get monkeys.

[LiamK]

So what we have now is a man, by all accounts a serious squash enthusiast, who is the power behind the PSA. No bad thing with him building the sport back into the mainstream. But its getting the exposure that is key before all this visionary talk. TV production crucial with all the gadgets seen in cricket and football on the box as well as getting the top eight into the mainstream are surely the two key areas to work on.