lab1,
Nothing new here with Glamorgan.
Back in the day when I was writing a lot about county cricket debt, with the knowledge that the
ECB would not allow a club to go bankrupt, counties "played the debt game" and those close
to the wind got away with it. Especially when it was realised local councils would step in to save
the day too.
Glamorgan was one of them. Reporting a loss of £316,000 is barely a blemish to them.
Back in 2006, Cardiff Council lent them £6.4 million, to help rebuild the ground fit for
International games. By 2015, the club was deep in the red with no chance of paying it off,
so the council wrote off 70% or around £4.4 million. The poor old local taxpayers had no
chance. The remaining £2 million may also have been written off at a later date.
Meanwhile, Glamorgan attracts international games and is laughing all the way to the bank.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/decision-write-44m-glamorgan-cricket-9259700The vast majority of Clubs who wanted to update their grounds for ECB approval, played this debt
game. Hampshire is a classic example. In their case, the ground was taken over by Eastleigh Borough
Council. What a story that is! I almost wrote a book about it. And then of course there was Durham.
Without direct ECB intervention there would now be 17 counties. That case was utterly disgraceful.
The financial ineptitude was astounding.
Meanwhile, the hapless Rob Andrew wanders aimlessly into Hove with little or no understanding
of this game; takes one look at the Sussex books, panics when Covid strikes; and destroys the club
by halving the players' salary bill, under the pretext of bringing through the youngsters, therefore,
getting rid of all our best players. This was a clueless man in panic.
If he had understood the county cricket debt game, there was no need to carry this out and we would
still have a competitive side capable of winning trophies. The best thing about former Chair, Jim May,
was he understood this. He had been a professional banker in high office. Therefore, he wasn't afraid
of debt and was happy to pay our best players a worthy salary to hold on to them.
