‘I needed some time out’: Death of dad and best man influenced Darren Gough’s decision to quit role at boyhood club Yorkshire

The former England fast bowler, who played for the county for 15 years, stepped down as managing director of the crisis-hit club in March. The decision to leave his boyhood club was a culmination of “a tough couple of years” that saw him lose a “couple of real close friends” to suicide and his father die from a brain tumour after surviving prostate cancer.

Gough spoke about the impact of the painful bereavements after revealing how playing golf has provided some sanctuary to help deal with the grief.

“I’m not someone who suffers from mental illness or whatever you want to call it,” he told the Fuelling Around podcast.

“I call it imbalance mainly, it’s how I like to word it - my wife works in well-being. I had a couple of real close friends, and I mean close, one of them my best man, who sadly committed suicide. On both occasions I had no idea. Then my dad got prostate cancer during lockdown.

“He got cured and my dad’s always been a grafter. He works hard, never played sport, his hobby was his job. He goes back to work, happy he’s got over prostate cancer and then he has a knee replacement. He has another six months of not doing anything which is finishing him off.

“He goes back to work and is driving home one day and gets a bit dizzy and thinks he is having a turn with his heart. He went to hospital and they said: ‘Good news Mr Gough, you haven’t had a heart attack or a stroke but we think you’ve got a brain tumour’ and that was it. Twelve months later he’s gone.

“It all happened so quickly and then your kids grow up too. My youngest son moved to Dubai and lives and works out there. I had a difficult period with work taking over a club that was in crisis. I totally put everything into that and rebuilt that cricket club and then my dad died and I said: ‘I can’t do this, I need some time out’ and that’s why I finished my job in March and decided I wasn’t going to do anything for nine months.

“I did some little bits and pieces for certain brands but I’d not got into that day-to-day work. Golf has been an absolute game-changer for me and it’s coming good.”

The ex-pacemen initially arrived at Yorkshire on an interim basis in December 2021 and took up the role permanently 11 months later after helping negotiate the county through the fall-out from the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal. It saw 16 people leave the club at the end of 2021, including former director of cricket Martyn Moxon.

Gough returned to the sport towards the end of 2024 after being appointed head coach of Lahore Qalandars. His first assignment with the franchise is the Global Super League (GSL) in Guyana.

The 54-year-old appeared on the popular motoring podcast to chat about his love of cars but touched on several other topics, including his time on Strictly Come Dancing.

“Since I became an England player, I’ve never not had a Range Rover,” the 2005 Strictly champion added during the episode.

“Once I got my first one, when I was 24, there’s not been any time in my life where I’ve not had a Range Rover.

“For me, I am just one of those people who just likes big cars. I look at a Ferrari, and as much as I love it, I can’t justify buying a Ferrari. I couldn’t do it. There’s times I’ve been tempted, same with Porsche.

“The only one I think I’d go and get is an Aston Martin, that’s the one I really do like because as quality as it is, I don’t think it has a show-off factor about it.”