Yorkshire chairman to stand down
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Your support makes all the difference.Yorkshire's growing financial crisis has forced the calling of an emergency meeting of the general committee at Headingley on Monday at which the president, Robin Smith, will reveal the terms upon which their bankers, HSBC, are prepared to continue supporting a club that were the county champions only a year ago. The club's present chairman, Keith Moss, will stand down.
The bank's conditions are likely to include the appointment of a new executive board, with bank representation, taking away the government of the club from the committee, which is directly elected by the members. There will be a call for further cuts in expenditure, which could include the release of nine players, including former England internationals.
The appointment of the new chief executive, Alex Keay, held in abeyance from last week, is likely to be rescinded and any further appointments delayed until a new structure is in place. Chris Hassell, who was due to retire from the post on 1 October, is now likely to continue in a consultative capacity.
Yorkshire have already called an extraordinary general meeting for 29 August at which members will be asked to agree to raising the club's borrowing capacity from £5m to £10m; rumour has it that they are already £2m overdrawn on their present limit. Some members are predicting that Yorkshire might have to declare themselves bankrupt.
Moss has become the first casualty of the growing storm and will stand down on Monday while remaining a committee member. He has been chairman since 1992 in which office he has seen the drawing up and execution of the plans for the rebuilding of Headingley and the erection of the new West and East Stands.
He feels he has been asked to bear a disproportionate amount of the blame for the club's financial plight, the basic cause of which has been the attempt to bring Headingley up to date as a Test venue while being merely tenants of the rugby club, the principal beneficiaries of the the ground's income. Candidates to replace him, with the club in turmoil and the committee in danger of dissolution, are thin on the ground.
Just how quickly this crisis has blown up is shown by the planning for what is Yorkshire's highlight of a poor summer: the Cheltenham & Gloucester final at Lord's on 31 August. The last time Yorkshire reached a final, that of the Benson and Hedges Super Cup in 1999, they celebrated the occasion as a football club would have an FA Cup final at Wembley: as a day out for the officers, staff and old players.
Three years on and old players will have to pay their own way. The committee will have a box, but those who attend will have to share the cost.
Moss's departure was described by a close friend as "doing a Captain Oates". If that puts president Smith in the role of Captain Scott then the outlook for Yorkshire is indeed as bleak as the Antarctic.
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