No 109, Nov 11 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🔴 Survey results - your views 🟤 Independent regulator 🟠 Garton moves to Warks 🟢 Agar, Ali sign as overseas, Lyon next? 🔵 Headingley 'sold to Mike Ashley' 🟣 Best cricket YouTube channel shut down
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Finally, football's independent regulator is properly on the statute books.
Its inclusion in the King's Speech pretty much guarantees it will become law despite a lot of politicking (aka blocking measures and spin) from the Premier League clubs. There is still a long road ahead. Many important, fine-looking laws get diluted to pointlessness when they move to the execution stage. Sometimes it is basic cock-up or conspiracy but other times it is the Parliamentary prevarication of due process.
If you think this is not important then look where sport is going.
It has been increasingly becoming the plaything of the rich for some time but the pace of change has accelerated rapidly in the last 10 years.
You can easily point to the Saudi League, LIV Golf, F1, boxing, the location of Olympics and World Cups or any other number of recent moves towards rich countries. These days hard-won hosting rights for major games are being handed back because they are bankrupting authorities. So where do think they will end up? Even without the invisible hand of internal assistance.
In cricket, the ripples of India's power are felt everywhere now, undermining the fabric of the game.
My previous stories on the possibility of an independent regulator in cricket:
All this serves to create greater distance between the sport and its fans. In the 1990s, all-seater stadia arrived in the UK to quell the threat of hooliganism and modernise the game. But it also served to increase prices and push out the traditional working-class fans. Now the cheap seats get little attention while the prawn sandwich brigade's every whim is catered for. At one of the clubs I worked for, there was a column in the expenses for "surprise and delight" gifts for high-yield clients. That was if the private parking space, champagne arrival, five-course meal, free-flowing drinks, visit from a club legend and plush seat in a box with a perfect view could not bring them back.
Football needs an independent regulator because the club game has too much power and, increasingly, investors see them as merely undervalued assets to grow and flip or develop their brand. Not passionate social entities that illogically hijack our attention. Two-thirds of Premier League clubs are run by Americans. Further down many owners are far from fit and proper. Believe me, this is an entirely different attitude from the "local lad made good" or ‘custodian-ownership’ model of years gone by.
The sheer arrogance of these new owners saw them try to push through a sporting earthquake such as the European Super League with a strategy seemingly written on the back of a napkin. A regulator is some sort of recompense for that hubris, at least among the English clubs.
In cricket, a regulator is needed more to keep the governing body in check. Teflon Tom Harrison and Colin Graves' bullying through of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named has split the domestic fanbase irrevocably. My feeling is that the Richards would have canned it by now but for the unilateral TV deal with Sky negotiated by Harrison just before he left to bank his bonus. Then there are all the governance issues created while their eyes were fixed on only the financial prizes. Sponsors will not support a game seen to be tainted with racism. And soon I fear those satellite television audiences will be hit hard by a generation and class who lack a proper connection with the game. In US cable television, they talk about ‘cord-cutters’. In the UK, a whole generation has never connected with the game at all because it was not played in their schools or shown on their television sets when they were growing up. There is no cord to sever.
Leicestershire’s most recent members’ forum. CEO Sean Jarvis is trying to move the club forward
All this means the best we can hope from The Richards' tenure is a repair job and firming up the foundations for their successors to build something better.
A foundation stone of that should be bringing in the independent regulator that the ICEC Report proposed and making it work with the ECB in something approaching harmony. Only then can we have any trust that the proposed "member-run-county+ECB+outside investment" model (aka the ‘investible pyramid’) for our domestic teams could actually work.
I get the logic behind this idea. Our county systems should be the bedrock of the game in this country, the system upon which the game can be built. After all, every England player was created by one.
But right now, most get 40-60 per cent of their revenue from the ECB, not enough to grow a sport fit for modern audiences so outside money and expertise are required. However, these external sources will want some control and the ability to create a return on investment. Many will want to run whole the chabang because a) it's their money b) they have more expertise and c) they want to revolution when UK sport prefers evolution.
All bar three of the counties are members' clubs. Something that, alas, normally only becomes apparent when they are looking to destroy not create something. The biggest ‘victory’ for members in the last few years has been blocking the Strauss Report. I agreed with this because it was ‘creation’ only on the ECB's terms and under the ECB's rules. And, of course, no fans can be trusted to be anywhere near the creative process, can they? In the same way, none were allowed to be involved in the important issues the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named was designed to try and address.
Instead, we were called fleas.
For me, members’ counties should work in their current form but they just don't and the window for repair has long since closed. Implicit in the very notion is that the clubs are run with, at least, significant input and direction from those paying supporters. OK, the opportunities are there in AGMs, other communications and Supporters Committees. But, in reality, my overall feeling is that club boards and exec teams do not take input from members (beyond basic customer service) that seriously. A major reason for this is the very pale, male and stale Grumbler stereotype I poke in the ribs with my pseudonym.
It might be just Essex, but generally, I find members’ contributions to these meetings to be an ill-considered, badly-delivered exercise in missing the point, wishful thinking and irrelevancy. There are too few clear, vibrant voices taking on the key issues. Then there is the bickering.
Of course, the boards at counties are made up of members. I tried to become a non-exec director at Essex last year but, despite 20 years' experience in elite sport and a burning desire to go to Northampton on a grey Thursday in September because we have a 100/1 chance of winning the title, I came away feeling I was, to coin a phrase, "the wrong sort". And, given the in-fighting we are seeing at Chelmsford right now, I think I am. I do not have the time or the stomach for such backwards-looking pettiness. I want to make positive change at a sports organisation again and if I can’t do it in county cricket I’ll look elsewhere for NED roles.
The real problem with member-run counties is too few people truly care and those that do have a funny way of showing it. So, we end up with a load of largely powerless old men in anoraks moaning bitterly about mucky seats at Championship games to 40-something execs in suits who spend their working day thinking about Blast ticket sales and how to become a modern, attractive proposition to sponsors.
And what, exactly, is going to happen if the four-day brigade are ignored? Very little. Yet nominally, it is ‘their’ club.
For me, this is a broken system.
The "member-run-county+ECB+outside investment" model could work if a truly independent regulator, who is looking out for the game as much as the money, can carefully carve out clear power relationships to serve all sides. This will need give-and-take and it will certainly require the end of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named.
Truly, I see a way forward here. The investment and innovation of new money, the tradition and democracy of the membership model and the governing body provide a platform for all to execute their part of the partnership. With a powerful independent regulator, separate from government, sitting above it all
My optimism sits precariously on a million ifs. Dangerously, I am assuming there can be compromise on all sides. At best, regulatory bodies have a patchy record in the UK over the past few decades. Yet, in that period, we have been world-class at the destruction of public services and the creation of free-market solutions that transfer wealth to the already rich. As the story of football’s regulator shows, it is in the interests of the powerful to undermine such shackles. And a pure market solution may eventually see nothing but T20 played globally, but funded by, and therefore run by, Indian or Saudi money. Though Jos Buttler’s itinerary suggests it is here already. Like it or lump it, UK cricket is going to play second fiddle for the foreseeable future.
At least this solution sees re-investment and development into counties, not franchises, and gives them a pathway to some sort of relevancy once more. It also has checks and balances on money and power. This is fans creating, not just destroying.
But, most importantly, it might make new generations care about county cricket.
Because, without that, it’s over anyway.
Let me know what you think in the comments. But remember I’m not trying to convince you of anything. And, most importantly, creating > destroying because the status quo is not working
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Players and coaches - moves, signings, contracts
Signings: Whiteley (Hampshire to Derbyshire), Garton (Sussex to Warwickshire), Hassan Ali (Warwickshire - overseas - end of July), Agar (Kent - overseas- end of July), Cohen (Kent)
Contracts: Wells (Lancashire - 3yrs), Swindells (Leicestershire - 1yr), Singh (Notts - 2yrs), Carter (Nottinghamshire - white ball - 1yr)
Ross returns to almost complete the winter recruitment (Peakfan)
Leicestershire promote Thomas to head coach job as Nixon successor (Cricinfo)
Glamorgan return to single head coach model after experimenting with split roles (Cricketer)
Gloucestershire Cricket awards testimonial year to Chris Dent in 2024 (Gloucestershire CCC)
News, Views and Interviews
‘We’ve been crap’: Stokes’ brutal assessment of England WC disaster (Fox Sports)
Where it all went wrong for England and how they can rebuild for T20 World Cup (Guardian)
Well, we can all agree with that.
England have been crap. Few backed us to win in India but a semi-final berth seemed a reasonable expectation for a side that largely picked itself and had many of the players who had won the tournament four years earlier.
Now, I like Ben Stokes. Clearly, he is an exceptional player but I sense he is his own man. Not too interested in playing the corporate game like Eoin Morgan or assuming that his greatness on the field gives him license to omnipotence off it, like Kevin Pietersen.
However, I was disappointed at reports that he delayed negotiations on his England contract until the next TV deal is done. Certainly, as one of the precious few truly bar-emptying players in this country right now, he deserves his slice and, yes, that knee could curtail his career by a few years. But he is earning £2.5m per year from his basic deals with England and the IPL alone. Just get it done, say I.
Because if you correspond to the Pietersen school of 'give-them-what-they-want' negotiations then everything is seen through its financial value.
And, if that happens, shrugging 'we were crap' just does not cut it anymore.
Part of the reason I love cricket is because non-sporting issues still have an influence. Representation of your locality, its values and personality have a little role to play. For example, part of me did not want Essex to sign Jordan Cox from Kent as a replacement for Dan Lawrence in order to give Feroze Khushi, a stylish youth product, a chance in the middle order. Even though, as a proven quality, Cox is more likely to help us win trophies.
Take all this out and you are left with the greedy disassociation of Premier League football.
If elite performance means elite remuneration then doesn’t lesser performance mean lesser remuneration? If money is now your sporting god and England were crap then shouldn't your wages be crap too?
I can see Indian fans scoffing at this given how the MCC used to run the game mainly in the interests of the MCC for all those years.
One thing I will say though, the World Cup is very boring because the hosts are so dominant. There are only three moneyed teams in international cricket now and, over the years, England have been unable to turn their resources into consistent quality.
I suspect it will be an India v Australia final this year. And many more years to come.
Bears CEO Stuart Cain reveals masterplan involving Aston Villa and Birmingham City (Birmingham Live)
Middlesex boss keen to replicate success of Brentford and Brighton (BBC Sport)
Sounds like Middlesex have a long hard few years ahead.
“The Lord's-based club will operate under sanctions imposed by the England & Wales Cricket Board for breaches of financial regulations.
“This will restrict their ability to sign players in the coming years.
"We have to be smart about how we go about our business," Richard Johnson said. “We are well aware of the finance over the next couple of years."
Mike Ashley 'to buy Headingley from Yorkshire County Cricket Club in bumper £23m deal' (Leeds Live)
Warwickshire: Will Rhodes steps down as skipper after four years (BBC Sport)
Saudi Arabia's Interest in IPL Is India's Next Big Challenge (Bloomberg)
Business of Cricket Award winners (ECB)
Robelinda2: the lamentable demise of a much-loved YouTube cricket channel | Cricket (Guardian)
I wrote a piece on Robelinda in The Cricket Paper some time ago. There is also my podcast too.
He told me three years ago that this day would come.
Survey Results
In the last edition, I linked to a short survey I wrote on the county game. I set it up using freebie survey software that only took 112 responses. I thought that would be more than enough. But it maxed out a few days.
I'll be publishing the responses over the course of the next few newsletters. Here are the first few questions.
Why do you follow county cricket? (Selected answers)
“I enjoy watching the County Championship. I enjoy how a side can be on top for 2 or 3 sessions and then it all changes in a session. After many years of watching County Championship, I am still surprised how exciting tight finishes happen.”
“Cricket was the only sport I actually enjoyed playing as it seemed to me that it was devoid of the win-at-all-costs driving motive of virtually every other sport. Even though the win-at-all-costs motive seems to be creeping increasingly into cricket it's still very much less prevalent than other sports.”
“I enjoy the friendship of many people I meet at the matches.”
“Love spending my đáy relaxing pottering to gặm and watching cricket - no stress. Hopefully sunshine but who cares? Chatting, talking twaddle. A quiet beer and pork pie.”
“I love watching top-class cricket at a reasonable price - it’s the best value sporting experience there is. On top of that I am treated as an adult and can drink whilst I watch. I also think the Blast and Championship are brilliant tournaments I love county red ball cricket. I love my county. I love the twists and turns and the subplots of the 4-day game.”
“Like the longer format and local players.”
“The rhythm, the beauty, the glorious uncertainty. The chance to catch up and chat with friends in the way men rarely do.”
“I was born in Sussex and I get great pleasure watching them compete. Not necessarily winning, and certainly not their players playing for a franchise, but Sussex doing Sussex things.”
Please explain the reasons for your answer to the previous question - "Do you have faith in the ECB's ability to run the county game for the good of its fans?" Selected answers
“Whilst I appreciate that increasing the money into the game can be of great benefit my concern is that increasing the money into the game has become the end in itself.”
“I am concerned that they are not prioritising the championship.”
“I'm concerned that a sunk cost fallacy exists around The 100. I'm not pleased with it. I understand that it's not for me and I understand that something had to be done to reach a new audience. However, I think the delivery of the programme has been a disaster and has caused a lot of anger and division in cricket. I might have been more open-minded to these sorts of things, but whilst I understand the need to capture a new audience the ECB have completely failed to bring its current and well-established audience along with it on this journey, and for me that is the disaster and shows terribly poor leadership and strategy.”
“Current state of affairs says they are struggling to understand the real fans.”
“No overarching sporting body runs any sport for the good of its fans. Its primary purpose is to maintain the sport and excel at international level. The fans are only one way of realising that purpose and one of the more problematic elements to achieve. The ECB's most visible efforts are directed towards commercial income generation. Fans are secondary.”
“The ECB has become a bloated monster that was allowed to gear itself to fulfil the bonus targets of the executive management. It lacks real governance and the decision to allow the outgoing CEO to negotiate a TV deal is, frankly, unbelievable. I say all the above of course even though the two Richards appointments were the best that could be expected but they've been handed something that is unworkable.”
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