Yorkshire CCC to take message on the road to win members’ support

Members will be invited to buy shares in the new company, viewed as vital by the club to attract new investment.

Although the board has pumped some £6m into the business, steadying the ship after recent troubles, Yorkshire expect to record another £2m loss this year and are braced for further deficits in 2027 and 2028, when Headingley does not have a Test match.

Colin Graves, the Yorkshire chair, emphasised once more the financial realities at a members’ forum in Scarborough on Friday, a message that will now be reinforced across the county.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “We’re going to have roadshows in September into October, as soon as we can get those organised, and we’re going to go around the county - Sheffield, Hull, wherever we need to go - to meet the members and talk to them, to get across why we need to do it and what it’s going to look like.

“The main thing to get across is that all the rights that Yorkshire members enjoy will continue. All the rights for watching matches, advanced buying of international tickets, discounts in the shops… all those will be protected, that’s number one.

“Number two is that anybody who votes to support demutualisation, we’re looking at giving them something like £100 worth of shares in the new company, so they will be shareholders as well as a member.

“They’ll be able to buy more if they want to, and they’ll be able to trade them as and when they decide it’s the right thing to do.”

For demutualisation to prevail, 75 per cent of the membership must vote for it from a minimum 50 per cent turnout. There are 5,000-plus voting members.

“If people don’t vote for demutualisation, then unfortunately Yorkshire’s going to fall into these financial problems time and time again,” added Graves.

“If they do vote for it, there will be a lot of investors from around the world who will look at investing in Yorkshire, which is for the good of the members because they want to invest in the club, the ground, the players and everything else.

“There’s IPL, American investors, you name it, and I’ve been surprised how many have been interested in talking to us, to be honest.

"But they will not even consider investing in Yorkshire as a members’ club - that is fact.”

Amid reported interest from IPL franchises such as Lucknow, Sunrisers and Rajasthan, along with various sources, the stakes are high with Graves having warned that the club is fighting for its survival.

He is keen that everything is done by the book and that everyone understands the picture.

“I think we’re going to be looking to put it to the vote around November time,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we do it properly through the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and do all the proper timescales and everything else.

“I don’t want to rush it. We will do everything properly through the FCA and take our time to do it to make sure everybody has been briefed about it, understands what we’re doing and the reasons why.”

Graves met members of the Yorkshire Southern Group recently and said that the meeting was very encouraging.

He is now hoping for a similar reaction at the forthcoming events.

”The positive thing is that there are investors out there waiting for us to do demutualisation because they do want to invest in Yorkshire,” he said.

“Ultimately, that can only be great news for the club and all the members because you’ve got people out there who are ready to put money into it to make sure that the club is financially stable and to continue the development of the Headingley ground.”