Vaughn's Premature Autobiography

It used to be just footballers who would release their autobiography before they retired. So while David Beckham (who has released more than one) and Ryan Giggs were cashing in, the cricketing authorities were giving Allan Lamb an ultimatum: either retire earlier than planned or disappoint your publishers.

The reason why players should wait is obvious. Autobiographies written by unretired sportsmen will either be uninspiringly self-censored or will land the sportsman in hot water with either the relevant governing body or their colleagues. The latter was certainly true of Roy Keane who was fined £150,000 for stating in his book that the career ending tackle on Alfie Haaland was deliberate. Apparently he made the cardinal sin of not reading his autobiography before publishing it.

Clearly one of the downsides of the Ashes phenomenon is the publication of autobiographies from Flintoff and Vaughn. From the extracts I have read (from newspapers, on principle I would never buy either) it appears that Flintoff's is boringly uncontroversial, while Vaughn has risked damaging his standing with his fellow professionals in pursuit of higher sales figures. Perhaps he is correct in stating that Flintoff is an unsuitable candidate for the England captaincy, but shouldn't such comments wait until after Vaughn has retired? I'm less concerned about the criticism of Graeme Smith, but it still shows a lack or respect for anything except money.

I hope that others will follow my lead and not buy either book.