Calcutta: World T20-winning head coach Philip Verant Simmons, or simply Phil, has had to pay a heavy price.

But why?

For being candid in expressing his opinion, quietly supporting the players' cause and strongly pitching for the best XI to be selected, irrespective of anybody's equation (or, well, the lack of it) with the West Indies Cricket Board.

The Board's media release, put out late on Tuesday, confirmed that Simmons's penchant for calling a spade a spade contributed to his removal.

"In recent times, based on the public pronouncements of the head coach and the approach internally, we have identified differences in culture and strategic approach..."

That excerpt from the media release actually says quite a bit.

One thing, though. If "public pronouncements" was a reason, then manager Joel Garner, too, would have to be in trouble.

During the recent Test series against India, after all, Garner minced no words in pointing out that the West Indies players "don't work hard."

That was a big enough condemnation of the players' work ethics.

Simmons, who'd earlier helped turn Ireland into a highly competitive ODI and T20I outfit, is currently in London.

According to The Telegraph's sources in the family, the 53-year-old Simmons spent much of Wednesday closeted with his "management team."

Last September, just months after being appointed the West Indies' coach, Simmons had been suspended for criticising the selection of the ODI squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.

Simmons favoured the inclusion of seniors Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard, but the selectors thought otherwise.

Upset, Simmons went public with his thoughts and the Board retaliated by suspending him for around one-and-a-half months.

Months after returning to the head coach's chair, Simmons played an important role in the West Indies regaining the World T20 title, in this very city as it turned out.

Having himself played (26 Tests, 143 ODIs) for the West Indies, Simmons consistently remained sympathetic towards the players.

That the players have often been at loggerheads with the Board is no secret.

The Board, to no one's surprise, took an exceedingly dim view of the then captain Darren Sammy's outburst against the Establishment, minutes after winning the World T20 for the second time.

Simmons, however, is understood to have thrown his moral support behind Sammy.

It's obvious that Simmons wouldn't have endorsed the selection committee's decision to ignore Sammy for the T20I series against India in Florida.

Perhaps, an account of one afternoon at the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, in the lead-up to the T20Is, would sum up the strained relations between Simmons and the Board.

Briefly...

Simmons had promised an interview to this Reporter, which was to have taken place at about 2.00 pm on August 24.

As Board president David Cameron and other key officials were having a frank exchange of views with most of the current players that morning, the interview was pushed back by a couple of hours.

Around 4.00 pm, Simmons came down to the lobby and had barely begun speaking off-record, before our interview proper, when he looked over my left shoulder and paused.

Simmons then abruptly ended the one-on-one with a whisper: "I'd rather not say anything at all now. We'll talk later."

That said, Simmons headed towards the elevator, preferring to head back to his room.

As Simmons's behaviour was rather unusual, I turned to look at what may have put him off.

It had been the presence of Cameron, sitting on a stool, in a somewhat ill-lit section of the Westin's bar. With Cameron was Wavell Hinds, head of the players' association, who apparently isn't trusted by many in the fraternity he's supposed to represent.

Clearly, a massive trust deficit existed and Simmons didn't want to give Cameron and the Board a reason (interacting with a journalist) to dock points just for the sake of making a point.

It is assumed that matters got worse in the next few weeks.