When September comes, the traditional end of season farewell of cricket supporters is to hope all concerned ‘winter well’. Now with the days getting longer Yorkshire’s first fixture on April 4 is barely two months away. There is room for cautious optimism that despite the upheavals of recent years Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) is wintering better than many had feared.

Before Christmas the club held a series of meetings for members and reported a total debt of £24m. About £7m of this is accounted for by interest bearing loans to the chair Colin Graves and his associates.

The rest is owed to a Graves family trust which is run by independent trustees. It was also claimed that taking into account the schedule of international matches (the big money earner) at Headingley over the next seven years, there would be a further £24m financial shortfall over that period.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club, like 15 of the 18 first class counties, is a co-operative and mutual society owned by its members. In the aforementioned briefings one solution offered to deal with the financial situation was to end this status and cede control of the club to private shareholders (possibly ultimately to an existing Indian Premier League franchise). This would not be a simple process as co-operatives are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. To de-mutualise the club would require two meetings at least a fortnight apart. At the first of these 50 per cent of the total membership would have to vote and of these 75 per cent would need to support any change.

Yorkshire taking on Sussex at Clifton Park, York, last year. PIC: Simon Hulme.

placeholder image — Yorkshire taking on Sussex at Clifton Park, York, last year. PIC: Simon Hulme.

Mutual status gives members of the club a real say in major decisions affecting them. Those powers are built into the current rules and are the envy of many sports fans. They do not appear to have hindered the financial or sporting progress of counties like Surrey or indeed football clubs like Barcelona.

When they renewed their subscriptions many members were surprised to be asked whether they wanted to opt in to retain their voting rights. It is not at all clear that the club is on strong legal grounds in reducing the number of members eligible to vote in this way (a member is after all a member) or indeed what the impact of this might be on any vote on demutualisation. The good news is that Yorkshire is now set to get a windfall which could eliminate all or most of the deficit with the English Cricket Board (ECB) this week selling stakes in the eight hundred competition franchises and planning to distribute the bulk of the proceeds to the counties. Yorkshire should be able to pay off its debts and make a fresh start without changing its ownership structure.

If the board continues to answer to its members, the progress made in recent years in making the club more inclusive, in the wake of the racism scandal, is more likely to be maintained. Free coaching is now offered to all boys and girls with real talent from whatever background. Membership increased from 5,800 in 2023 to over 8,000 in 2024 largely because more and cheaper options were offered.

The club now has an equity, diversity and inclusion policy which aims simply to ensure all involved are treated properly and fairly.

When spring comes Yorkshire will have first division cricket to look forward to once again and if the Yorkshire cricket family can put its best foot forward perhaps much more besides.

John Grogan was the MP for Selby 1997-2010 and for Keighley 2017-2019.