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Yorkshire chief executive Stephen Vaughan said anyone who could help the club through financial difficulties would be “seriously listened to” for the vacant seat, with Colin Graves having expressed his desire to return.
Vaughan outlined the problems facing the club to members at the county’s annual general meeting on Friday night, highlighting a £3.5m cash shortfall this year and having to repay £14.9m to the Graves Trust.
The answer to Graves will be controversial, with his first term as chairman from 2012 and 2015 overlapping with Azeem Rafiq’s time at the club, a time in which the club now admits that he failed to deal with the systemic use of racist language and or discrimination. However, he said earlier this year he was ready to return “on his terms”.
Yorkshire County Cricket Club said they were “open-minded” about their next seat, citing the need for financial assistance.
Robin Smith, also a former chairman of the county and a long-standing associate of Graves, asked the Board at the AGM why it was “prevaricating” on Graves’ return, urging to “come with Colin in a short time and get rid of all this confusion and delay”.
Vaughan and co-chair Baroness Grey-Thompson spoke during the meeting about the “robust process” being followed to recruit a replacement for outgoing chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel.
And after the AGM, Vaughan told the PA news agency: “Clearly, it’s not fair to talk about people who may not be interested in the role. However, we are very open to people who can do well for the club.
Former chairman Colin Graves has spoken of a return ‘on terms’, but it will be controversial
“When Lord Patel came in, there was a post for the seat at that time and obviously the transformational change, the post has changed.
“Anyone who can help refinance the club and who can help us commercially moving forward will be heavily weighted as a key performance indicator. Anyone who can do that will be listened to very seriously.”
Vaughan told members there had been “numerous conversations” about refinancing the club’s debt.
He also said it was “going to get worse before it got better” with the upcoming Cricket Disciplinary Commission sanctions, but insisted the problems facing Yorkshire were not “insurmountable”.
Vaughan hopes the county’s efforts to reform itself will be considered when sanctions are imposed due to the racism scandal that has hit the club.
The county has admitted four charges in all in relation to the CDC case related to allegations made by former Yorkshire bowler Rafiq.
Graves’ time as a chair overlapped with the time when Azeem Rafiq was subjected to racist abuse at the club
A decision on the liability of six people previously linked to Yorkshire, including former England captain Michael Vaughan, could come as early as next week from the CDC, but Yorkshire’s chief executive wants to learn what sanctions the club will face at the earliest opportunity.
“We want to rip off the band aid,” Vaughan said.
“We’re talking about how many years ago this happened, and I can tell you (there’s) a kind of fog hanging over the organization right now because we don’t know (what’s going to happen. ).
“I compare it to jumping from a high place in a swimming pool. The jumping part is not so bad, it’s just going up the stairs that scares you. So for everyone here, we want to know what it is, get over it and move on.
“I really hope first and foremost that all the work that has gone into this period will be held in account when we come to this conversation (around sanctions). England cricket is stronger for Yorkshire cricket is stronger.”
Stephen Vaughan, CEO at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, outlined the financial difficulties facing the club
Vaughan said the whistleblowing helpline launched by outgoing chairman Lord Patel in November 2021 would be kept “for the foreseeable future” but said it would eventually be closed due to “significant” costs when the time was right.
“The optics are not good if we have to pull it now,” he said.
“But in the future, the cost of the whistleblowing hotline is important. What we want to do at some point, if we feel it is the right point, is to move to something that can be done in a more sustainable way, but make sure that it is fit for purpose and allow staff or people who join the club have a solution to any problem they feel.”
The costs of the helpline, governance and listening reviews and the county’s equality, diversity and inclusion plan are listed at more than £700,000 in the club’s 2022 year-end accounts.
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