ANDREW FLINTOFF has quit as coach of Northern Superchargers following a pay row.
Former England captain Flintoff insisted he was “worth more” than the new owners of The Hundred franchise were prepared to pay.
Flintoff, 47, has helped guide Superchargers to fourth place and the Eliminator in his two seasons in charge.
England’s Harry Brook is their captain and Ben Stokes is one of their players – although he did not appear this season because of injury.
Flintoff told the Beard Before Wicket podcast: “I genuinely don’t do it for the money – although it’s nice – but I’m worth more than just over a quarter of the salary of other head coaches.
“We have new owners and I spoke to them and said: ‘Yeah, fine, make us an offer.’
“I wasn’t encouraged they wanted me anyway, and you want to feel valued. So I said that it’s not going to work for me and they weren’t going to move on it.
“I felt we were building something over the last two years and I’d have loved to see it through.”
Superchargers are owned by the Sun Group, an Indian media conglomerate, and who paid just over £100 million for a 100 per cent stake for the Headingley-based team during the tournament’s equity sale earlier this year.
Flintoff is also coach of England Lions and will be with that squad for a match against England during the Ashes build-up.
In another recent podcast appearance Flintoff recalled the hilarious moment he was offered his first professional cricket deal.
He was tipped to make it big from a young age, so much so that club icon David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd personally travelled to his family home to discuss a contract.
Flintoff explained: “He came in and he said, ‘Right, we want to sign your Andrew.’
“And my mum and dad were like, ‘Oh, here we go, look at this’.
“He starts talking about money and he says: ‘At Lancashire we pay really well. Ian Austin gets £16k, Michael Atherton gets £22.5k…
“We’re going to start Andrew on £2.5k,’ and I was like, go on, get in.
“And then he sold my mum and dad this dream of me. I’ll never forget, I went into Old Trafford a few weeks later, it was all going through.
“He said, ‘Never mind what I told your mum and dad, it’s f***ing hard here!’”
