The Wicked Cricket Column

When it says its credit limit had been removed, all that means is any company going to Top Service for a credit reference on Farnrise would have been advised of the zero credit rating. A company could still choose to deal with Farnrise, should they so wish. Existing suppliers would have to decide whether they thought it was worthwhile continuing to trade with Farnrise in order to attempt to recover any outstanding monies, in many instances substantial, or whether they would be throwing good money after bad. A quite normal scenario when a company gets into difficulties.

Farnrise changed their accounting year end from 31 March 2013 to 30 September 2013, although this wasn’t filed until 12 December 2013, not quite 3 weeks before their accounts would have been required to have been filed with the original year end. No doubt this was to attempt to delay the publication of the parlous state of the company.

The appointment of an administrator did not happen until 11th April 2014.

As Sussex had to write off circa £85K, they had obviously raised invoices to that amount. Those invoices should have been reflected in Farnrise’s creditors, assuming the debt related to Farnrise.

Maybe there was an agreement between Sussex and Farnrise that the debt wasn’t going to be paid, in which case Farnrise could have written it back through their books, if in fact it had gone through their books in the first instance.

Amidst all the supporter gloom of top players leaving Sussex CCC over recent years, one has done particularly well at his new club.

Luke Wells was such a promising talent, but whether it was the ghosts of his father and uncle, he never showed it consistently at
Hove. So, when his contract wasn’t renewed for the 2020 season, it was not that much of a surprise, although some supporters
were incensed by the way he was treated by Sussex CCC in his final year at Hove.

Well, the good news is, after Peter Moores believed in Luke's talent and brought him to Lancashire in 2020, where two years later,
he was given his county cap, Luke has shone, both in red and white ball cricket. Whether it was down to the coaching, a different
vista away from his family ghosts, who knows, but well done for achieving your potential and enjoying some excellent cricket.

Luke even stars in the 100 tournament playing for Welsh Fire. On his debut, he scored 57 in a rain shortened game and
was awarded man of the match. Who would have thought it when at Sussex.

Dizzy was a terrible choice. Not sure what his beef was with Luke.

An interesting article from Will Macpherson, once more, although this time co-written with Nick Hoult. The Telegraph continues to
be the media outlet most attuned to county cricket... at present, anyway.

archive.is/SETZx

The feature about the potential of Gloucestershire CCC selling Nevil Road for between £20 and £40 million and using this money
to build a brand new ground outside of Bristol, raises again, a similar situation for Sussex CCC. Presumably, Glos would have
a fair few million left over after the enterprise is completed.

Re: Sussex, before it was decided to spend Spen Cama's legacy on updating Hove starting in 2010, there was an extensive campaign
supported by Jim May (Chair) and the county board, to sell the county ground and relocate to an outside venue. A southern area of
the Crawley outskirts was deemed a worthy location, but after much deliberation, it was decided to remain at Eaton Road.

While the Hove land must be worth a similar amount to Gloucestershire's Nevil Road, the quandary will continue for decades ahead,
especially after completion of the new apartment block. 

Yet, a major problem remains for the club. Money, money, money. How can new and ever increasing revenue streams be created,
to make Sussex financially competitive again? For example, selling your ground for £40 million and building a new one for £30 
million, allows a £10 million profit to be spent on attracting top players.  

Yes, you are the only one who sees this, because you're the only one who looks through your eyes of delusion. Lets go through what you just claimed:

"Strong core to our side", we've just lost one of the players that we were told would be part of the group that we'd rebuild with. We rarely take 20 wickets and in 2022 had to sign 5 overseas players for a 6 week group stage of the blast. Last season, we signed a player for 3 games before bringing back the guy who was only here for 3 months. Our other opener - another one who is supposed to be part of the rebuild - is rumoured to be wanting to leave and we only let players go if they NDA's. That is not a "strong core"

"A world class coach", Farbrace is very good. But "world class", come on now. 

"A cricket ground that's still ours" I should hope so yes. To have somewhere to play is the bare minimum a professional sports club should have. The board haven't yet done what Albion did back in the day and sold our house with nowhere to go, although I wouldn't put is past those incompetent clowns to such a thing. 

"Completely debt free" and how much of that money supposedly saved actually gets well spent? Very little of it. 

"A number of revenue streams outside of cricket" Again, that's the bare minimum that any successful business should have. You don't need to be a genius to work out that only 1 source of revenue is not a particularly sustainable way to run an organisation. 

Are you J** F***y in disguise?

Whatever view you take, the Club is still faced with a lack of money to be competitive. This is so clearly seen over Alistair Orr.
If you don't have the finances to hold on to one of your best up-and-coming youngsters, then you're screwed.

So, how does Sussex CCC find a way of increasing its annual finances, not in 5 years time, but right now?

Success attracts success. Failure brings more failure.