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General Cricket => World Cricket => England => Topic started by: Ayrtek Cricket on October 03, 2016, 01:47:36 PM
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Quite a revelation!
Durham relegated and Hampshire back up due to ECB bailout.
http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/ecb-and-durham-agree-financial-package (http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/ecb-and-durham-agree-financial-package)
Text below for those that might not have website access at work etc.
ECB and Durham agree financial package
03 October 2016
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The England and Wales Cricket Board today announced that Durham County Cricket Club has accepted an offer of significant additional financial support from ECB in order to manage current and historic debt and revenue issues.
ECB has been working with the Board and Chief Executive of the County and its stakeholders throughout 2016 in order to ensure that Durham could address their financial issues. This support has included advancing an annual fee payment of £1.294 million. There has been no direct investment to date.
The £3.8 million financial aid package – which has been approved by the ECB Board and accepted by the Board of Durham CCC - will allow the club to meet on-going salary, HMRC and operating costs, settle a substantial debt to a secured creditor and focus on the restructuring and future sustainability of the County Cricket Club.
The conditions and sanctions that have been agreed within the new financial arrangement are:
COMPETITION: Durham will be relegated to Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship and start the 2017 season with a 48-point penalty in this competition. As a result of this decision, Hampshire will remain in Division One of the Specsavers County Championship, in accordance with ECB’s competition regulations. Durham will also start the 2017 season with a four-point penalty in the NatWest T20 Blast and a two-point penalty in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
FINANCIAL & GOVERNANCE: All non-player related ECB competition prize money due to Durham for the 2016 season to be refunded to ECB or withheld until all debts owed by the club to ECB have been settled. The club will also not carry out any future capital redevelopment works without ECB’s prior agreement.
SALARY CAP: Durham to be subject to a revised salary cap from April 2017 to April 2020 under the ECB’s Team Salary Payment (TSP) Regulations, set at a level to be determined annually by the ECB Board.
Within the package, the ECB Board has agreed to set off £2 million of the club’s existing debt to the ECB after the club accepted it would no longer be eligible to apply to stage Test Match cricket at Emirates Riverside. The club will continue to be eligible to host one-day international and T20 international cricket.
Confirming the financial aid package and future plans, ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison said:
“We’ve been working with Durham County Cricket Club throughout the year on how best to address their financial issues; we welcome the club’s willingness to review its business model and management structures.
“There is no doubt that a strong, financially robust Durham County Cricket Club has a vital role to play in developing England talent, enriching our domestic competitions and underpinning the wider growth of the game in the north east.
“The financial package and associated conditions approved by the ECB Board reflect the unprecedented seriousness of Durham County Cricket Club’s financial situation. To help them through these difficulties and continue as a First Class County, this had to be addressed with immediate, practical financial assistance.
“We also have a wider responsibility to the whole game and need strong deterrents in place to preserve the game’s integrity and financial stability.
“Durham have made a strong contribution to the game as a First Class County, through domestic competitions, local participation and producing fine England players. We now look forward to working productively with the new Board of Directors in the restructured company and supporting a healthy future for Durham County Cricket Club and the game in the north-east.”
A Durham CCC spokesman added: "The Durham County Cricket Club Board welcomes the ECB’s long-term commitment to safeguarding First Class Cricket in the North East."
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This is disgusting.
This is a win for politics
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That's ridiculous, cause the issue and then punish the club for it.
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A major part of Durham being granted First Class Status was that they had to develop a Test Match Ground. They've done that, then the ECB have crippled them financially with their ridiculous Bidding Process for hosting one, now they've relegated them, and docked points in all competitions, and stopped them from hosting Tests!
Absolutely disgusting to be frank, rather than fixing the system that has ruined them financially, they're punishing them on the field in exchange for bailing them out.
Go figure....
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Obviously not the biggest ground in the world, but i must say the Ashes match i went to at Durham a few years ago was one of my best sports spectating experiences ever. Such a shame, classic ECB really.
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More corruption from the ECB
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Absolutely disgusting by the ECB.
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I did start a thread regarding Dunham last week.
Youre not allowed to swear on here so what I will say is the ECB are their own worst enemy and the general cricket fan who thinks they are a bunch of silly billys have their views confirmed with decisions like this.
The bidding process for test matches is the stupidest idea ever, unless you are glamorgan who get the tax payer to pay for it the write it off as there is no hope of paying it back.
The ECB with this fiasco show just how out of touch they are with reality
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Just goes to show that the ECB really has absolutely no idea what it's doing. It's a complete debacle, and I think Durham CCC or their supporters should be suing the ECB for some form of dodgy practices.
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Playing devils advocate here.
If the ECB bailed the county out for millions without a penalty wouldn't the other counties be up in arms and argue they could all spend what they couldn't afford knowing the ECB had to bail them out.
The ECB allow them to continue without helping they would go bust.
Ignoring the fact the ECB screwed them with the Test bidding process, they can't hand out almost £4m of aid without some sort of punishment
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I did start a thread regarding Dunham last week.
Youre not allowed to swear on here so what I will say is the ECB are their own worst enemy and the general cricket fan who thinks they are a bunch of silly billys have their views confirmed with decisions like this.
The bidding process for test matches is the stupidest idea ever, unless you are glamorgan who get the tax payer to pay for it the write it off as there is no hope of paying it back.
The ECB with this fiasco show just how out of touch they are with reality
Totally agree, a real travesty just a good job there isn't a north south divide.
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Playing devils advocate here.
If the ECB bailed the county out for millions without a penalty wouldn't the other counties be up in arms and argue they could all spend what they couldn't afford knowing the ECB had to bail them out.
The ECB allow them to continue without helping they would go bust.
Ignoring the fact the ECB screwed them with the Test bidding process, they can't hand out almost £4m of aid without some sort of punishment
You're right but they did screw them with the Test bidding. If they hadn't this whole situation would/should never have arisen.
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A major part of Durham being granted First Class Status was that they had to develop a Test Match Ground. They've done that, then the ECB have crippled them financially with their ridiculous Bidding Process for hosting one, now they've relegated them, and docked points in all competitions, and stopped them from hosting Tests!
Absolutely disgusting to be frank, rather than fixing the system that has ruined them financially, they're punishing them on the field in exchange for bailing them out.
Go figure....
When Durham were given first class status they played mainly at Feethams in Darlington town centre (a proper cricket ground with football attached) occasionally at the university in Durham and out at simian strangler central Hartlepool. The ground by the A1M at Chester le Street was always going to be an albertross, however other counties with small grounds have never been forced to upgrade.
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You're right but they did screw them with the Test bidding. If they hadn't this whole situation would/should never have arisen.
Completely agree, I also don't see point in stopping them hosting test cricket. Best way to get them back on their feet earning money surely?
I think relegation and 24points (1 max point win) would have sufficed
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Completely agree, I also don't see point in stopping them hosting test cricket. Best way to get them back on their feet earning money surely?
I think relegation and 24points (1 max point win) would have sufficed
yes,,,absolutely it would of been enough if they HAD to do something, not put Durham in handcuffs which is exactly what they have done.
You couldn't make this up you really couldn't.
I repeat my earlier post in the other thread. The ECB are sitting on 73 million in CASH reserves.
this whole issue is morally reprehensible.
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Does the test bidding process apply equally to all counties?
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Just goes to show that the ECB really has absolutely no idea what it's doing. It's a complete debacle, and I think Durham CCC or their supporters should be suing the ECB for some form of dodgy practices.
Don't really see how you can sue someone over a deal you've agreed to.
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Personally dont think this is right, surely this should have been said at the time of the bailout? I doubt Durham would have had much choice but to accept but this seems to have come about after the relegation was decided which doesnt give it the best impression in my eyes
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Don't most sports deduct points when a club goes into administration?
Is this not basically the same??
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Kent CCC must be reall happy with this, why couldn't Hampshire stay down, Durham get relegated due to financial issue and the Kent and Essex the two best teams from Div 2 go up.
Why do a club that got relegated fair and square get to stay in Div 1 over a team who finished 2nd and in any other county season would have got promoted? And yes I am a Kent CCC fan but still I think Kent board should be fuming and rightly so
Good old ECB can always count on them and the FA to make a pigs ear out of running there respective sports
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Kent CCC must be reall happy with this, why couldn't Hampshire stay down, Durham get relegated due to financial issue and the Kent and Essex the two best teams from Div 2 go up.
Why do a club that got relegated fair and square get to stay in Div 1 over a team who finished 2nd and in any other county season would have got promoted? And yes I am a Kent CCC fan but still I think Kent board should be fuming and rightly so
Good old ECB can always count on them and the FA to make a pigs ear out of running there respective sports
Its not just a pigs ear of a decision, what it is is shameful.Whatever way you look at it it defies belief.
Im not going to comment anymore on this only to say by the time i wake up tommorow i hope the ECB has bern disbanded and replaced by a professional organisation who can run the great game we all love.
Carlos over and out! :)
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Wow. This is beyond harsh.
We've covered that some - not all as some have suggested - of this was caused by the ECB and the conditions of Durham's admission into the First Class structure. Even that which is technically Durham's fault - the overspend on players - was only ever the product of their outstanding record at producing talent. Admittedly, some is nicked from across the border, but even as a proud Yorkshireman I'm sometimes jealous of their conversion rate of talent.
This is a county that has produced, without importing from further than Bradford, a raft of international or promising county class talent in the last two decades: Collingwood, Harmison, Onions, Borthwick, Wood, Plunkett have played test cricket, Stoneman should have, Mustard was a great one day player, Muchall an underdeveloped talent and Rushworth is one of the best of those bowlers just not quick enough for international cricket. Oh, and some ginger kid called Stokes who seems a bit useful. And this season they've played Richardson, Weighell, Pringle, McCarthy, Arshad and Burnham....
I can accept that relegation was probably fair, if not in the interests of English cricket (sorry Hampshire fans) but to decimate their chances for next season as well? Wow. This is not Strauss stitching the Championship up by fiddling player availabilities, this is a systematic destruction of one of the country's top two or three talent factories.
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If i'm right, they've also lost the right to host tests? So surely this is a downward spiral which hurts the ECB too?
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Kent CCC must be reall happy with this, why couldn't Hampshire stay down, Durham get relegated due to financial issue and the Kent and Essex the two best teams from Div 2 go up.
Why do a club that got relegated fair and square get to stay in Div 1 over a team who finished 2nd and in any other county season would have got promoted? And yes I am a Kent CCC fan but still I think Kent board should be fuming and rightly so
As a Hampshire fan I'm going to come in with my opposite end of the spectrum opinion :D. I'd argue the case that if Hampshire had had the same financial benefits from the ECB as Durham had had this season (aka, if all our wages had been paid for us by the ECB and we'd had an extra couple of million pushed our way) then we'd most likely have found a way to perform better than we did.
I also think if you look at it as the same scenario as penalty points being deducted this season (which I know they weren't technically, but surely it's practically the same scenario?), Durham would've been pushed below Hampshire and therefore taken the relegation spot instead. If Hampshire had finished within 2 points of Lancashire at the end of the season and were therefore relegated on the basis of deducted points earlier in the season I doubt we'd have heard many people clamoring for Lancs to be relegated as well and another team sent up from division 2.
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If i'm right, they've also lost the right to host tests? So surely this is a downward spiral which hurts the ECB too?
I may be wrong but I think hosting tests were one of the causes of their financial struggles?
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If this article has any truth to it, this whole thing gets murkier :o
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/durham-fuming-after-ecb-relegate-them-after-telling-them-to-turn-down-4m-bid-a7343276.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/durham-fuming-after-ecb-relegate-them-after-telling-them-to-turn-down-4m-bid-a7343276.html)
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You should read Dobell's article on cricinfo. He nails it.
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Read it.he does.he's a very good journalist.
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Just on the Kent CCC having an issue, it was clear from the start that two teams would be relegated and one promoted. And so it was ever thus...
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I'll stand to be corrected but hadn't Durham already decided a while ago not to bid for test matches after 2016
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Feel sorry for Durham but are we all missing the big picture here? Is 18 first class counties really sustainable? Do we have too many test/ODI grounds? Personally, I would rather see less cricket but cricket of a much better standard. I would rather see 8 first class sides and see Mark Wood bowling at Jason Roy rather than Dave Masters (no disrespect) bowling to Phil Mustard. We have far too many counties and it is just not a realistic business model. There are a number of first class counties that are in serious debt. Let's be radical and have 8 first class sides and 14 first class matches per season (home and away) lets make the Test match players available so they can get some form in. Lets play the matches in April/May and late August/September leaving the bulk of the summer available for 20/20 matches and List A fixtures. Why not create 8 Super Teams and have the current county standard as the semi-pro leagues. Something has to change, 18 first class counties cannot be sustained longer term. We are so afraid to make changes in this country but we still haven't won a world 50 over competition. Wouldn't it be good for the players to get more rest in and the chance to focus on and work on specific skills rather than spending their lives travelling in a car. Our elite cricket athletes should be expected to finish a 20/20 match at 10.30pm only to travel to another part of the country ready to play another match the next day.
Rant over.
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Kent CCC must be reall happy with this, why couldn't Hampshire stay down, Durham get relegated due to financial issue and the Kent and Essex the two best teams from Div 2 go up.
Why do a club that got relegated fair and square get to stay in Div 1 over a team who finished 2nd and in any other county season would have got promoted? And yes I am a Kent CCC fan but still I think Kent board should be fuming and rightly so
Good old ECB can always count on them and the FA to make a pigs ear out of running there respective sports
Didn't think they'd take this lying down.
http://www.skysports.com/share/10605046 (http://www.skysports.com/share/10605046)
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can of worms !!
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Didn't think they'd take this lying down.
[url]http://www.skysports.com/share/10605046[/url] ([url]http://www.skysports.com/share/10605046[/url])
From my understanding, the ECB wanted to relegate 2 teams and promote 1 with the restructure for 2017. That's what they'e done albeit swapping the relegated teams over based on the situation.
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I always thought Kent were struggling with their argument (and thats as a kent fan). Even in league cricket at the level us more mortals play ive only ever known teams to get a reprieve when someone has pulled out or been demoted for other reasons
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Durham now bailed out by the local council for 3.7 m so it essentially becomes owned by the taxpayer
This way of funding County cricket is the only way forward without a benefactor and there are other County clubs in the same boat...as they have loans or have funding from local government.
hopefully this sets Durham on the right financial path, I did read membership has gone up in recent weeks.
Rod Bransgrove can 'do one'. Not sure what the phase is up that far North
WE LOVE YOU DURHAM !!!
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What a farce. A county cricket club shouldn't be left to the tax payer to bail out.
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they are all in the same boat, there has been much support in the press for Durham because in some way or another most clubs are in hock to someone. Rod Bransgrove is the exception to the rule
Graves at Yorkshire has ploughed his own money in and they are only in the black because the ECB have loaned them cash .
the clubs that hold test matches in London make money. that's about it.
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Spot on well said.
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Durham now bailed out by the local council for 3.7 m so it essentially becomes owned by the taxpayer
Does this mean they have paid the outstanding debt not covered by the ECB's bailout? Or this money repaying the ECB?
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Durham now bailed out by the local council for 3.7 m so it essentially becomes owned by the taxpayer
This way of funding County cricket is the only way forward without a benefactor and there are other County clubs in the same boat...as they have loans or have funding from local government.
hopefully this sets Durham on the right financial path, I did read membership has gone up in recent weeks.
Rod Bransgrove can 'do one'. Not sure what the phase is up that far North
WE LOVE YOU DURHAM !!!
Hadaway an (No Swearing Please) Bransgrove. From a native of the county.
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Sh1te :o
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Does this mean they have paid the outstanding debt not covered by the ECB's bailout? Or this money repaying the ECB?
it's taken in the form of shares, so will only 'owe' one party I presume the ECB will get their money back.
Durham have been right royally stitched up and this is great news. it's the only way forward.
When we went round Notts they told us the new fangled screens were paid for by the council, good payment terms to pay the money back. Nottingham benefits by getting fans in spending money in the City.
it has to be a partnership going forward. Cricket cannot just exist for those of us in London( im a Londoner!) paying 100 quid a ticket.
Durham are producing England cricketers.....rant over !! :)