Exclusive: Colin Graves beats Mike Ashley in battle for Yorkshire CCC

Yorkshire have accepted in principle Graves’s offer to return after Ashley’s bid fell by the wayside.

In a statement, Mr Graves said: “I am pleased that the board of Yorkshire County Cricket Club has now accepted my offer subject to contract.

“In doing so, the club has agreed to a period of exclusivity until the 5th of January to finalise minor contractual details.

“Once that point is reached the offer will be put to the membership at an EGM along with the board’s recommendation that it is accepted in the best interests of the club.”

Yorkshire issued their own statement in response, saying: “Yorkshire County Cricket Club is seriously considering the offer from Colin Graves.

"In doing so, the club has agreed to a period of exclusivity until January 5 while details are worked through including assurances that club rules are adhered to.

"Once these matters have been resolved, then the offer will be put to the board for approval and an EGM will be called for any required rule changes to be put to the members.”

Graves, 75, is expected to make wholesale changes throughout the club and will look at the structure from top to bottom.

He is understood to have the full backing of the England and Wales Cricket Board in his efforts to get the club back to where he wants it to be.

Yorkshire owe circa £16m to his own family trust, along with some £5m to various creditors. It emerged recently that the club had been advanced money by the ECB to help it through the winter months and next year will be a challenging one for Yorkshire with no Test match staged at Headingley.

Ashley’s Frasers Group was believed to have tabled a circa £24m deal that would have seen the high street billionaire buy Headingley on a sale and leaseback arrangement.

However, it appears that Ashley’s hopes of using it as leverage to further his Slazenger brand’s involvement in the wider game was unsuccessful.

The exact details of Graves’s bid have yet to be confirmed.

However, in an internal memo to staff on Christmas Eve, seen by The Yorkshire Post, the club’s chief executive Stephen Vaughan admitted that the board have decided it is the best option for the club going forward.

“I can confirm that the board of YCCC has agreed to a period of exclusivity until January 5th with Colin Graves and Oakwell Capital to bring in the necessary funds to secure the financial future of the club and maintain its status within English cricket,” wrote Vaughan, with Oakwell a sports corporate finance company that has been heavily involved in rugby union.

“If concluded successfully, the club will convene an EGM for members to ratify matters relating to the offer at the appropriate time.”

Vaughan continued: “As a board of directors, we have a duty to ensure that, first and foremost, we do the right thing by our creditors and members.

"This means that we must assess all funding routes that are available to us, take expert independent advice on each and move forward with the options that give us the best chance of remaining a solvent business with the necessary means to be able to continue to operate and indeed thrive going forward.

“It has been a turbulent time for the club in recent years, but with the CDC inquiry behind us, some brilliant work going on in the community and recreational space, a thriving pathway and some really exciting commercial prospects ahead of us, I am sure that once we have a more robust financial platform, we will see that flow through to performances and results for both our men’s and women’s teams.”

It is expected that the EGM will take place at the end of January, with the club required to give members 21 days’ notice.

It is understood that Vaughan and the board spoke to more than 300 brokers, Indian Premier League teams, Pakistan Super League teams, American investors, and so on, in their efforts to secure a buyer, with Graves now poised to return to a club that he helped save from financial disaster in the early 2000s.