Sell our soul ?

[bwildered]

DAILY MAIL
Rajasthan Royals have launched an extraordinary takeover bid for Yorkshire which would make the county club the first to be owned by an overseas franchise.

 Unfortunately money talks, might need an injection of dosh to pay the Newton report. Will the club sell its soul ??

[nat]

What you mean is…
…
Will the members sell their soul?

Precedents are not good.

[Valentines Park]

Yorks must have have enough Boycott types to vote this down.

Mind you if we got taken over by an IPL franchise would the long promised ground improvements finally arrive.

[dazedpenguin]

As I think the article points out (I scanned it and I'm not venturing onto the Mail site again), Yorkshire are an ideal choice for a takeover being host to a Hundred franchise. Plus they owe all that money to their former Chairman. I don't see it as the end of the world, they're buying a county- while also getting a slice of a franchise.

Would Essex be such a tempting target? There's no Hundred franchise, but there's a lot of support, a player development pipeline and close links to a wide community of potential players. Build a new stadium or somehow manage to improve Chelmsford, and attract a Hundred franchise, and there's an opportunity for someone with deep pockets and a bit of imagination.

I hope that doesn't happen of course, but I'm struggling to see a way forward.

[SirChef26]

As I think the article points out (I scanned it and I'm not venturing onto the Mail site again), Yorkshire are an ideal choice for a takeover being host to a Hundred franchise. Plus they owe all that money to their former Chairman. I don't see it as the end of the world, they're buying a county- while also getting a slice of a franchise.

Would Essex be such a tempting target? There's no Hundred franchise, but there's a lot of support, a player development pipeline and close links to a wide community of potential players. Build a new stadium or somehow manage to improve Chelmsford, and attract a Hundred franchise, and there's an opportunity for someone with deep pockets and a bit of imagination.

I hope that doesn't happen of course, but I'm struggling to see a way forward.

They wouldn't just be buying a county. They would be buying first access to a guaranteed pipeline of young talent across that county, which is probably the main attraction. It means they'll be able to lock down the next Harry Brook et all on global contracts that sees them play for Rajasthan and Yorkshire across the English summer and then for all the other 'Royals' teams over the winter.

As for Essex, my stance is simple. We're in dire need of investment amid rotting facilities and are in danger of fading into irrelevance (as are all county clubs without a 16.4 team. If an IPL franchise (or any respectable company/individual for that matter) came to us with a cast-iron contractual guarantee to either rebuild Chelmsford or build a new ground entirely by a certain date, then they'd get my vote.

[nat]

As I think the article points out (I scanned it and I'm not venturing onto the Mail site again), Yorkshire are an ideal choice for a takeover being host to a Hundred franchise. Plus they owe all that money to their former Chairman. I don't see it as the end of the world, they're buying a county- while also getting a slice of a franchise.

Would Essex be such a tempting target? There's no Hundred franchise, but there's a lot of support, a player development pipeline and close links to a wide community of potential players. Build a new stadium or somehow manage to improve Chelmsford, and attract a Hundred franchise, and there's an opportunity for someone with deep pockets and a bit of imagination.

I hope that doesn't happen of course, but I'm struggling to see a way forward.

They wouldn't just be buying a county. They would be buying first access to a guaranteed pipeline of young talent across that county, which is probably the main attraction. It means they'll be able to lock down the next Harry Brook et all on global contracts that sees them play for Rajasthan and Yorkshire across the English summer and then for all the other 'Royals' teams over the winter.

As for Essex, my stance is simple. We're in dire need of investment amid rotting facilities and are in danger of fading into irrelevance (as are all county clubs without a 16.4 team. If an IPL franchise (or any respectable company/individual for that matter) came to us with a cast-iron contractual guarantee to either rebuild Chelmsford or build a new ground entirely by a certain date, then they'd get my vote.

This post proves my point. The buyer won't even need to offer 20 pieces of silver by the sounds of it.

[Caughtright]

Nat's brief but eloquent response has saved me from sending a longer reply. "Responsible" my ears (deliberate typo). Try: greedy, grasping, insensitive, dishonest, manipulative ... Despite challenging domestic/medical circumstances and thanks to help and encouragement from disabled wife and generous friends, I was able for the only time this season to attend a day's play at Chelmsford, the second day of our impressive win over Middlesex - not what I call Essex "sliding into irrelevance".

[SirChef26]

Nat's brief but eloquent response has saved me from sending a longer reply. "Responsible" my ears (deliberate typo). Try: greedy, grasping, insensitive, dishonest, manipulative ... Despite challenging domestic/medical circumstances and thanks to help and encouragement from disabled wife and generous friends, I was able for the only time this season to attend a day's play at Chelmsford, the second day of our impressive win over Middlesex - not what I call Essex "sliding into irrelevance".

You just don't get it and that's the problem. Try and look beyond a result on the pitch for once, this is far more important than any win.

Unfortunately, many people won't get the privilege of watching a full-time Essex County Cricket Club in ten years time because we'll have been left to rot at our rotting ground whilst the ECB alongside the eight-to-ten counties who adapted with the times play top level professional red and white ball cricket.

Change is coming whether you like it not, we either react as appropriate or we'll die and no amount of success on the pitch will change that.

[Oldhasbeen]

Change is coming whether you like it not, we either react as appropriate or we'll die and no amount of success on the pitch will change that.

I'm all for reacting to a changing world "as appropriate", but I question whether becoming the plaything of a rich foreign owner, with members no longer having any say in the club, is "appropriate".
Once a club goes into private ownership, anything can happen, like the youth development budgets being decimated, prices skyrocketing, first-class cricket being dropped, or even the club being closed down or relocated if it's losing money. Guarantees from new owners are often pretty worthless, even more if a club is sold on.

[bwildered]

The Rajasthan Royals' takeover bid at Yorkshire could trigger a flurry of Indian investment in English cricket with several other IPL franchises seeking to buy shares in the eight Hundred teams.

[Andy]

Change is coming whether you like it not, we either react as appropriate or we'll die and no amount of success on the pitch will change that.

I'm all for reacting to a changing world "as appropriate", but I question whether becoming the plaything of a rich foreign owner, with members no longer having any say in the club, is "appropriate".
Once a club goes into private ownership, anything can happen, like the youth development budgets being decimated, prices skyrocketing, first-class cricket being dropped, or even the club being closed down or relocated if it's losing money. Guarantees from new owners are often pretty worthless, even more if a club is sold on.

Asset stripping - Bollywood style!

[essexfan548]

I've seen what's happened at Northants so no surrender from me.

[Caughtright]

Oh I get it all right, and am all for adapting to changing circumstances. But not for 20 pieces of silver and the sort of cast iron assurances we see conveniently (and destructively) shelved in current international politics. I agree with Oldhasbeen's summary and view with distaste the prospect of even YCCC much less Essex becoming a plaything of overseas (or non-cricketing English) paymasters. The win against Middlesex and particularly the large crowd there are themselves part of a bigger picture. Rotting? Well the gents' loo behind the pavilion has remained dire all the decades I  have been able to visit the ground. More seriously, nobody would dispute that more money coming into the Club would be welcome but any sources of finance, like those paymasters I mention above, claiming to be "responsible" have to be scrutinized ruthlessly in order to discover just how "appropriate" they actually are. For now I'll forego my twenty pieces of silver and settle for this two bobsworth.

[nat]

I'll repeat what I've said before...
...
We (members and non-members) should setup a crowd fund for ground improvements. Let's see how much we can raise and go from there.

[afinetickletoleg]

I was chatting with a mate a few weeks back and said that I could soon see the day where all cricket in this country would be played by the 8 franchises.

London Spirt : Middlesex and Essex
Oval Invincibles : Surrey and Kent
Southern Brave : Hampshire and Sussex
Northern Superchargers : Yorkshire and Durham
Manchester Originals : Lancashire
Welsh Fire : Glamorgan and Somerset
Trent Rockets : Notts, Leicestershire and Derbys
Birmingham Phoenix : Warks and Worcs

It just leaves Lancashire without a natural partner and Northants and Glos to accommodate although Glos could probably go in to Welsh Fire.

Having read about the Royals looking to buy Yorkshire it seems that this could be the first step of that happening.