Southampton Rangers Club’s former vice-president and first choice wicket-keeper Darren (Butch) Burchall has said that this season’s team are the worst he has seen after they were relegated from the Athene T20 Premier Division last weekend.

Burchall’s harsh words mirrored those of star player Dion Stovell, who criticised the attitude of his team mates after a disappointing season.

But while Stovell’s fury was aimed towards players showing a perceived lack of commitment, Burchall and club director and former club president Randy Raynor highlighted a lack of managerial expertise, attention and the inability to arrest declining standards as catalysts for the club’s demise.

Although captain Dalin Richardson demonstrated youthful optimism in his belief that the on-field product was salvageable, older heads around the club are not nearly as bullish, noting the need for drastic surgery.

“When you’re a sports club and both sports teams are relegated to the lower division, that’s an indication that there might be something critically wrong with the way the business is being run and you have to look at the management of the club,” Burchall said.

Rangers’ former star was not all critical detailing his belief that the club management must be praaised for negotiatiing a tricky couple of years through the Covid pandemic

“There many multi-billion dollar conglomerates that have crashed in the past three years and several businesses have gone under. People have lost their homes and the people operating the club, to their credit, have kept the club afloat.

“But the way the club is being run is akin to a cork in the ocean down at Horseshoe Bay. It’s just bobbing up and down, spending more time underwater than on top and the cracks at the club are quite visible for all to see.”

Raynor feels Rangers management need to adopt a more active, visible presence in order better identify the processes that need fixing.

“To reconstruct Rangers we have to start from the management at the top,” Raynor said.

“Management needs to take care and see what’s going on with the cricket team, which has had several disciplinary problems that management has not addressed, but that they have been hiding from.

“You have to address these problems, so that the coaches are comfortable dealing with the players, because if you keep hiding from the core problems they will show up on the field, which is exactly what has happened.

“I haven’t seen a sports chairman devote a whole day to set up, like others would do and then sit up, watch, support the team, play cricket and show that you’re truly committed to their development and success

“We don’t have that at Rangers right now. We don’t have many spectators that come and watch. That is not just this season but it’s been like this for the past two years.

“We have a sports chairman that we don’t even see. When you take up the honour of being sports chairman at a club, you need to come to the games and be visible.

“We need management to be present and to see what’s going on. We can’t just band-aid this thing. We can’t band-aid what’s going on at Rangers right now, the wound is too big and it needs serious surgery to heal in order for us to improve and move forward.”

A tearaway fast bowler, who appeared for club, country and in Cup Match during the club’s heyday of the late nineties and early 2000s, Raynor called on the office of the president to take a more hands-on approach.

Neither Chanjiv Simons, the president, nor the sports chairman were present as Rangers were relegated on Saturday.

“As president of the club you have to come out and so should the sports chairman to see what’s going on and what needs to be addressed,” Raynor said. “You can’t be relying on WhatsApp messages as a means of resolving affairs.”

In response to Burchall and Raynor’s hard-hitting comments, the club’s executive released a joint statement with the aim of highlighting the positive facets of their tenure.

“The Southampton Rangers Executive would like to highlight the positives from this years cricket season rather than answer to Mr. Raynor’s unfounded assumptions,” began the statement. “At the beginning of the season, a new scoreboard was erected at the club, the first in over 20 years.

“Brand-new cricket nets were erected on the grounds to replace the old outdated ones. This was done as a joint building effort with the team and executive.

“A title sponsor was secured with funding going towards the purchasing of new equipment for the team.

“We were also proud of the hiring of an assistant coach for the first time in the club’s history to assist our coach with his coaching duties.

“We cannot forget our successful hosting of the Western Counties Series, in which the club came out victorious.

“Although some results this season have not gone our way the club is proud of the achievements of its players and proud to have been able to reinvest in the infrastructure around the club to enhance our cricket product for the future.

“The committee will meet with the players and coaches for a debrief and see where we can all collectively get better for next season.”