Monday 30 May 2011

Monday musings

There's times when some comments baffle me.

Like today. 'Anon' says that the club should make a statement on the Groenewald 'situation'. You'll all know, I'm sure, that Groenewald has given 28 days notice of his intention to speak to other counties. As he comes to the end of his contract that is his right and I'm sure that all of us, in his situation, would do exactly the same thing.

At the same time, the player has made it known that he wants to stay at Derbyshire, where the team spirit and positive attitude in the dressing room is obvious and a tribute to the senior people in the club. As I've written before, the player will see if there are bigger offers out there and will then speak to the club to see if they are prepared to match those offers. The size of them will dictate what happens next. It may be that the current economic climate in the game means there are no more lucrative takers for the player's services. It could equally be that there are, but they are of a level that the club can match and probably keep the player accordingly, assuming he's enjoying the club as much as he says. He may also want to play in Division One and if that's the case there's little we can do, unless we get better luck with the weather in the second half of the season.

There's a lot of supposition in it all, but what do you expect the club to say or do, Anon? They will want to keep him, without doubt, but if we're paying (my guess) £40-45K a season and someone else offers £80K he will go, simple as that, as we can't afford him. Graham Wagg went for an even better deal, but if anyone thinks his current 28 batting average and 13 wickets at 49 is worth a rumoured £90K a season plus perks you're on your own. If the difference between Groenewald's best option and ourselves is £10K there's a better chance of our striking a deal, but at the end of the day we are a business. We have a finite and small playing budget, the smallest in the country and need to have enough players on the staff to account for injury problems and ensure competition for places. To suggest that a refusal to match big offers from elsewhere is short-sighted and indicative of a lack of ambition is baloney of the highest order.

Let's assume that we have £650K to pay for player salaries. I don't think that's too far away, from my reading of club accounts etc. A decent senior player can probably expect to get around £40K a season (I'd guess) so you could have 16 for your money. So what happens when they are tired or injured? Don't forget you also need to pay more for an overseas star of any stature. Had we matched Glamorgan's offer for Wagg, what do you think that Madsen, Smith, Groenewald, Durston and Sutton, senior players as good, if not better than Wagg would have thought? Do we give them all £90K to keep them happy? OK then, that's £540K of your £650K gone on six players. I'm sure that the rest of our squad would play for £10-15K a summer. Palladino, Hughes, Redfern, Jones, Park - they'd all be happy with that. Your overseas player would too. You would wouldn't you?

I didn't think so...

Nor, as I've written before, can we expect the Chairman to make up any shortfall. There may be occasions he chooses to help the club, but he is involved as much for his financial acumen as the depth and contents of his pockets. Living beyond our means is a sure route to financial meltdown.

I hope that we keep Tim Groenewald. I hope that we keep Greg Smith. The reality is that if another club with more money decides that they want them, we won't hang on to them because money talks, for you, for me, for everyone. What we will have to continue to do is bring on youngsters, spot those lacking opportunity elsewhere and give it to them for as long as we can afford to.

One thing we have going for us is that there are financial issues everywhere. The ECB age-related payments mean that increasing numbers of clubs are bringing in younger players. That's why Usman Afzaal and Bilal Shafayat are no longer in the county game, because they're priced out of the market and they're too old to make money under current regulations. Kent were linked with Greg Smith a couple of years back and now can only pay a staff of 18. Lancashire and Yorkshire made seven figure losses, Warwickshire only made money because they sold land for development, but you can only do that once. Other than that, they made a trading loss, like almost everyone else.

Here's a question for you. Would you sooner spend beyond our means for the next five years, maybe win a few trophies and then go out of business, or be in this for the long haul? The former gives no guarantee of success, the latter will see good days and bad, but ensure that we have a club to entertain us for a long time to come.

I know which option I prefer and it ain't the first.

11 comments:

  1. It would be nice if someone from the club just came out and said that they would be offering Groenewald a new deal and they were doing their best to keep him at the club.

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  2. You are spot on with your comments Peakfan. Unfortunately, I believe Groenewald, Smith, Hughes and Madsen will all leave the club over the next 2-3 years as the club is unable to match their salary demands and playing ambitions.

    NatWest 81

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  3. Of course he'll be offered a new deal! Why wouldn't he? They will do their best to keep a key player but, like I say, he has to be realistic in his demands if he sees a future at the club.

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  4. TIMMY G is only saying that he still wants to play at derby just in case he doesnt get a improved from another county. if i was derbyshire and another county never matched want he is looking for id come back to timmy g with a lower offer. im sure derbyshire have offered him a decent contract but he wants the maxium available he can get.

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  5. Is that wrong? Are you saying that you wouldn't do that to look after your family?
    Sorry, can't accept he's doing a thing wrong. Not fair to claim he's only saying he wants to play for us in case no other offers come either. The bloke deserves much better than that. He gives 100% every time and always has.

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  6. If I was in my late twenties and had a maximum 10 years left in my career (injury and form allowing) I'd be looking to maximise what I could earn while I could. Of course other things would be an influence - for example, gratitude for rescuing my career, loyalty to team-mates, sense of belonging, prospects of being part of a successful team for example.

    At the end of the day, though, I'd want to make sure that I realised all of my career ambitions, and money is a part of that. Some of the comments on here becoming offensive by suggesting that TG is manipulating a situation in which he can leave, and says more about the posters than they do about him.

    Our challenge will be to make sure that we've done all we can to put an offer on the table that means TG can refuse others.

    I think Peakfan is right that some of the stupid money that has been sprayed around over the last few years isn't going to be there anymore. Glamorgan certainly won't be after the financial disaster they're facing after this Test match. Nor will Lancashire after what I've just heard their chief executive say - it's not inconceivable that they could go out of business while being top of the Championship.

    I'm not sure I agree with him though on not making exceptions for top performers who can change the shape of games. Derbyshire won't progress if it can't hold on to the likes of Madsen, Hughes and Smith. If their performances justify it, we should be prepared to pay a market rate for them. If others want to gain the same status, they know what they need to do. I'm not sure that TG has really reached that game-changing status yet, however.

    One radical suggestion, though. We're never going to be able to sign a Rogers or DiVenuto again because of the registration requirements, so our overseas options are going to be restricted to the marginal or very inexperienced test player. If the Sunday Times is right, we paid £40,000 for Khawaja, and presumably a little more for Guptill. Some will come good, some will show their potential, some will fail, and none will return. Why not use the budget we have allocated for overseas players who might deliver as an incentive budget to top up the contracts of our own top performers?

    We may not be able to offer the upfront contracts to attract top names, but we can become known as a county that properly rewards those who really deliver.

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  7. Excellent post Notoveryet! The ST figures are a little skewed to my knowledge but your comments are fair.
    I'll comment in more detail when I have more time - as you'll see from the time of this post I've a day's business trip to Belfast today and might not have much opportunity later today...

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  8. Peakfan, chill out a little! Some of the comments posted are a little 'tongue in cheek' to create a reaction. Again on the loss of Khwaja someone from the club should have come out and said either we are not replacing him or we are doing our best to replace him. As Khwaja has gone half way through his contract the club will be making a decent saving and supporters who are paying their money shouls expect the club to look for a replacement. This is where a good Head of Cricket comes in who could find a replacement that we can afford. Despite the 'doom and gloom' merchants its a fact that teams who traditionally do well in Twenty 20 like Somerset, Essex and Sussex do well out of it financially.

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  9. Whilst we will propably win a few games in the 20/20 I think we'll struggle to reach the lucrative quarter-final stages. To me we need someone at the top of the batting order to give it a whack and then someone coming in at about 6 to give it a whack in the latter stages. We are short of a quality strike bowler and a quality spinner. Basically if the club are saying that we don't need a second overseas player in the 20/20 then I don't agree with them. I am not saying bankrupt the club but there are players out there that would improve us without bankrupting us. Someone like Van Der Mere who Somerset have just brought in or Guptill's mate Jacob Oram would have been worth an enquiry.

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  10. I agree with the the vast majority of your comments peakfan. It would not be prudent to bankrupt the club,given the IMF is unlikely to bail us out should that happen. So what do we do?. We have to evaluate an individuals worth to the club. Obviously,some players will be worth more than others and we have to maximise our efforts to keep the better players at the club. Within reason. That said,it cuts both ways and whilst i would never question a players commitment,only their ability,there have been a number of occasions in the past where players have seemingly used the county purely to meet their own ends. The most obvious case,in recent times, is Graham Wagg. It,s a fair bet he wouldn,t be playing county cricket had it not been for Derbyshire coming to his rescue. Okay,he gave something in return,but not nearly enough in my opinion. Let,s not forget he spent most of his final season sitting on his backside and getting well paid for doing it. Will T.G. go aswell?. Who knows. One thing we do know is there wasn,t exactly a stampede from other clubs to sign him,when he put pen to paper at Derbyshire. Here we are 18 months later,talking about him possibly leaving. No,delete possibly and insert extremely likely.
    Can the club do more?.I dont really know. Maybe one way would be to identify the the top half dozen players and make sure their contracts dont run into a final season. If they refuse to sign a new deal then don,t play them. Let them rot in the stiffs. I would sooner we played a youngster than pamper to someone who,s going to sod off in the near future. At least that way the club knows it,s in the market for a replacement.
    On the financial side,it might be stating the obvious,but a degree of success on the field would put a bit of cash into the coffers and thus give a bit more flexibility when it comes to player wages.

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  11. After 46 seasons as a member it would be nice to have something to look forward to, but frankly I see no hope at all!

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