LAHORE, Sept 27: Perhaps following the maxim “it's better late than never”, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt on Monday finally removed Yawar Saeed as national team manager on his own request, thus ending the unusually long tenure of an individual who remained constantly under fire for his pathetic management skills and controversial approach.

“Yawar Saeed met the PCB chairman and requested to be relieved of his duties as manager national team and the chairman has agreed to this request,” a news release issued by the PCB stated.

However, Yawar, regarded as a close friend of Ijaz Butt and whose frail role as manager was slammed by critics particularly with regard to the spot-fixing controversy-hit England tour, is most likely to get another position in the board soon.

“To save Yawar from further criticism after the England tour, Ijaz has given him some rest and the chairman is most likely to give him a new role in the PCB,” a board official said on the condition of anonymity.

Despite several controversies which surfaced during Yawar's long tenure as manager, sources said, he remained PCB chief's most trusted person, and is thus likely to get some role in the board.

During the current PCB regime which has almost completed its two years under Ijaz, the tour to New Zealand and Australia late last year was the only occasion Yawar was not part of the team management.

After the series Down Under, he was inducted into the PCB again as a member of the chairman-appointed inquiry committee, which penalised seven cricketers over discipline issues on the winless tour to Australia where Pakistan lost all Tests, ODIs and the one-off Twenty20.

Surprisingly, Ijaz included Yawar in the committee, knowing well that Yawar was a party as far as his relations with Younis Khan were concerned.

One of the main accusations against Yawar has been that he conspired against Younis's captaincy. First, he faced the allegation that he along with seven players met the PCB chief ensuring him they all were against Younis's captaincy. Later, Yawar's name also appeared in the news when several players of the national squad took oath on the Holy Quran that they would remain united against Younis.

Among the seven penalised cricketers the names of Younis and Yousuf were also included, both of whom faced an indefinite ban. The others were Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Only Younis and Naved are still facing the suspension, while all others have received relief and waiver and represented Pakistan in recent contests in England. Yousuf was the last player who was given relief and recalled by the board during the England series.

Yawar's worst performance as manager emerged on the England tour where his poor managerial skills were fully exposed.

In England, while three players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir faced spot-fixing allegations raised by the News of the World, apparently no serious efforts were made by the team management to control the situation.

As a result of the controversy the Pakistan trio were suspended provisionally by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Earlier, the Scotland Yard detectives raided the Pakistan team's hotel in London, interrogated the players over the spot-fixing allegations, besides confiscating some of their belongings. The three were allowed to return to Pakistan just before Eid-ul-Fitr, with a guarantee that if required by the investigators they would come to England again.

Presently, the fate of the three players is in the hands of the Scotland Yard and the ICC, while the PCB and its team management in England did not monitor the situation properly, thus failing to take any timely step to control the swiftly brewing spot-fixing scandal.

Agencies add: Meanwhile, Yawar declined to comment on his decision to leave the position of team manager.

“I don't want to comment on my decision but I have been thinking about it for a while now,” Yawar said.

“I had requested the PCB chairman to relieve me of the duties before the England tour... nor it [stepping down] is linked to the tour of England,” he claimed.

Former Test captain Aamir Sohail said he was not surprised that Yawar had stepped down as there was too much pressure on the PCB and team management after the England tour.

“I think the PCB is under pressure now to make a fresh start and I think we can expect more changes,” Aamir said.