Chubby Wonders Aloud If Blame Lies With Caroline
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Derek Lawrenson gets Chubby Chandler on the phone and after a few more hours (and perhaps a wee nip or two), he opened up about Rory McIlroy's shock firing of the famous manager.
‘I don’t know whether it was his girlfriend (world No 1 tennis player Caroline Wozniacki) getting in his ear or someone else but I thought we were doing a pretty good job, to be honest, and I think that’s how the outside world saw it,’ said Chandler.
McIlroy made it clear that is not how he saw it in a face-to-face with Chandler six weeks ago.
‘We sat down and he said he was not happy with his brand, sponsors, website or his public relations image,’ said Chandler.
Well that must make his current sponsors feel great about signing six-figure checks!
Speaking of the website, as of Friday night there wasn't one! The ISM IT department wasted no time taking that down. Who says ISM isn't responsive and agile!
And there was this speculation from Chubby where it appears we may have ego conflict here. Shocking, I know...
‘Maybe there was nothing more to this than Rory wanting to join his great mate G-Mac,’ said Chandler while sounding like he didn’t believe a word of it.
Was Chandler a victim of his own success? That’s another theory. After Schwartzel, McIlroy and Clarke won their majors, journalists started talking about the possibility of a ‘Chubby Slam’ at the US PGA in August. The personable Chandler did a few interviews and became a big talking point in his own right.
‘I don’t know if Rory didn’t like that but he referred to me as a “celebrity manager” a couple of times, which I thought was an odd thing to say,’ said Chandler.
I think we have our answer!
Brian Keogh reflects on the turmoil and also sheds some light on McIlroy's new 10-percenter.
But that won’t bother Horizon, which has been quietly making a name for itself since it signed McIlroy’s close friend Graeme McDowell from Chandler’s ISM group in 2007 and Ross Fisher from management giants IMG in March 2009.
Founded on the strength of a re-mortgaged home in 2005 and boosted by outside investment four years ago, many will raise doubts over the ability of Conor Ridge’s six-year old company to after the affairs of one of sports most marketable assets. But McIlroy has seen at close hand what Horizon has done for McDowell.
Similar fears were raised for McDowell’s future when he left Chandler as a frustrated and disillusioned player four years ago (“Let’s see how many deals he gets” was one reaction from ISM people.) Yet the sponsorship deals have rolled in without too much difficulty. McDowell won twice with ISM. With Horizon he has six wins, including the 2010 US Open, not to mention two Ryder Cup appearances and new deals with a string of blue chip sponsors.
