More on the finances

Last night I referred to Derbyshire’s annual financial statement and suggested that it had to be looked at in terms of a bigger picture, as highlighted by Keith Loring in the Derby Telegraph on February 18. A link to this excellent article is below:


http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/derbyshireccc/Derbyshire-cash-ground-improvements/article-3237750-detail/article.html

As I said last night, while the figures are not great they are a long way from an unmitigated disaster and the club have quickly taken steps to address the situation. Indeed, the club site today highlights the great demand for the marquee in particular and in such ventures lies the future security of the club.

Compare it with what is happening in Kent. Yesterday’s Kent Messenger carried a sobering tale of their finances.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/sport/2011/march/7/kent_figures.aspx

This includes the sobering lines:

“The club’s accounts for the year ending October 31, 2010, show an operating loss of just over £595,000, which is significantly better than the figure of more than £800,000 reported last year.

It is also an improvement of around £100,000 on the operating loss for 2007/08 (but)…the club has budgeted for a £400,000 operating loss for 2010/11.”

Now I’m no business mogul but that doesn’t sound like a healthy run of figures to me. Any business that has lost around £2.5 million over four years is in difficulty and I’d be interested to see what Kent are paying to some of their big name players like Key, Jones, Tredwell, Denly and Van Jaarsveld. Far more than we can afford, I’m sure and I wouldn’t say that their last four years have seen unparalleled success, would you?

Derbyshire’s financial fortunes had an understandable ‘blip’ last season, but we have some steady hands on the tiller. It is our first loss for several years and the club are predicting a profit for the coming year, which is reassuring news. While some fans may want us to make big name signings and pay the salaries reportedly earned by Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom at Leicestershire and Yorkshire respectively, that is wildly unrealistic given our cricket budget.

John Morris, as I’ve written before, makes do with the smallest budget in county cricket. That he has a squad with so many young, talented cricketers is testimony to the work he has put in. If that talent, under the captaincy of Luke Sutton, plays the cricket that it is capable of, supporters should see some exciting cricket in the coming season.

And it’s just a month away…