Worcestershire CCC interim CEO Tom Scott has paid tribute to his successor David Leatherdale – and says his legacy at New Road as a player and latterly as an administrator will live on.
Leatherdale will preside over his final role as CEO at tonight's AGM in the Graeme Hick Pavilion before becoming CEO with the Professional Cricketers' Association.
It will be the end of a 31 year career with the County which started via a Second Eleven match at Ombersley in September 1985.
Leatherdale was a member of the side which represented Worcestershire's second 'Golden Age' in the late 1980s and early 1990s when winning trophies almost became commonplace.
He was one of the unsung heroes who helped to compliment superstars Ian Botham and Graham Dilley.
After hanging up his spikes in 2005, Leatherdale moved into the Commercial Director role and then, five years ago, became CEO.
He played a major role in the County recovering from the disastrous 2007 summer floods and instrumental in helping develop the Hick Pavilion, Premier Inn and The View at New Road in addition to the forthcoming Phrase Three project.
Scott said: "I watched David play cricket for Worcestershire many times and he was a player who was there every game, so solid and reliable, and a player everyone wants in their team.
"He was a member of the great team of the late 1980s and I'm sure he has got many great memories of being part of that successful team.
"David might be described as an unsung hero but he finished with pretty good batting and bowling averages and was a renowned fielder.
"He can hold his head high knowing his career was a good one, with one club, and he achieved everything a professional cricketer would want to achieve apart from playing for England.
"He was known by most members of Worcestershire as a real solid professional cricketer for the club – and in business he has turned out to be the same, a solid, good performer."
Scott added: "David was able to progress from being a professional cricketer into the business side of running a cricket club and a successful business – which he has been incredibly successful at.
"Now the club we are looking at today, with the new Hick Pavilion, the new hotel and The View, and looking forward to Phrase Three, has been the brainchild of David and the Board.
"His legacy will be not only was he a great player for the club, a solid player, but the part he played in the development of the infrastructure of the club is fundamental to its success going forward.
"He can claim credit for much of that vision."
Scott intends to maintain links with Leatherdale after he has officially left his post with the County to join the PCA.
He said: "I'm going to need him. I will be keeping in touch with him. He has got an encyclopaedic knowledge of this club that is incomparable.
"On that basis, we are going to need him and also with his role at the PCA, he has got a position on the main board of the ECB, and he is someone we are going to stay very close to going forward.
"We are going to try and maintain his legacy at the club."
