Suggested Changes

Following my plea for people's ideas to improve Nottinghamshire CCC, there has been a lot of views made on my post "Change for Good", for which thank-you everyone.

I had gave that post two weeks or so to generate some content (while I was away on holiday included) and then to try on find some common threads to post as a direct appeal to those Committee members that read this blog from time to time.

I think supporters suggestions fall into three categories: 

• costing nothing and could happen almost straight-away
• change of attitude and mindset that might lead to some expenditure by the club
• real forward planning and player development, which might cost the club in the short term but could possible save money over a longer period 

Cost ya nowt to do...

Stopping the publishing and posting out to every member of COVERED. When we had four Notts members in my household, we used to get multiple copies this publication, which no one hardly read. It is published online, which is ok so why go to the expense of posting hard copies out for folk to put in their recycling? Would it not save the club £,000s

I would say greater transparency of the workings of the club except there currently isn't any transparency with committee matters or the duties of the CEO or DofC. Some openness wouldn't cost a penny and would be good PR if the right things were being said and done. So why can't Committee meeting agendas be published before hand and then the minutes of meetings be published online for all read afterwards? Remember, all Committee members represent all of the membership. It's time to stop the secret society mentality; what are you trying to hide?

Members' Forums. Why are they confined to the lunch session of a Championship game? The last example of the members' forum highlights the need for better engagement with members. That meeting could have gone on for all of that afternoon, so why not have a meeting after play or before play, although this might mean the absence of the head coach from proceedings? Perhaps have forums on an evening which have an agenda with an opportunity to post questions before hand.

The club Twitter account and website; why is it @TrentBridge rather than a variation of @NottsCCC (that already exists) - there is a message on the latter's account saying that it has moved to the former address, why has this been done? It is petty unnecessary bugbear for many supporters and Notts are the only county that do this. In an increasingly complex balance between cricket, corporate Trent Bridge Ltd and The Hundred invader, why is it that the cricket club has to lose its identity? As it already exists, a switch back to @NottsCCC wouldn't effect the running of the media output at all, would cost nothing would send a message that this is a cricket club not just a venue for hire. Which takes us on to attitude shifts....

Change of attitude...

In addition to greater transparency from the club, members have expressed the need for a change in the club's attitude towards its members. Once upon a time being a member of NCCC was something to be proud of and you felt privileged to belong to the club. Not anymore, members are treated like they are an unnecessary burden, excluded from the pavilion after games, refused entry because club's computer has a glitch (and that is just the last two games at Trent Bridge), games are being taken away from HQ and its facilities to be replaced with grounds that are little better than cow fields with tented facilities inferior to the average scout jamboree all of which degrades the value of the membership experience, a trend that looks to be on the rise, when the cricket club will be excluded from its own ground during the summer by the Trent Impostors - but that brings us back to transparency, or lack of; why are our Chairman and the CEO the chief cheerleaders for the ECB's Hundred project?

(at this point I got bogged down so I've copied direct for the comments supporters have made and had consensus on)

Better members’ facilities at Trent Bridge, use of Randall suite during championship match days; look after your members!

Better emphasis on the heritage of Trent Bridge. It is very famous and iconic venue and we should celebrate this. Proper Museum and murals round the ground of famous players and incidents as per Lords, The Oval, Bristol, Cardiff and Leeds for example 

Change of attitude surrounding player squads...

Review of management and coaching structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, job descriptions and performance reviews. 

Are coaches spending too much time with first team and not enough time with Academy players to further their development? All posts should be externally advertised to ensure the best and most appropriate candidate(s) are employed.
A slightly larger playing staff with red and white ball specialists. Too many of our players are playing both formats which leads to player burn out, to aid this and to bring players through from the Seconds as  The 'Player Pathway' is important - it needs to be heavily supported by the Academy being re-instituted in an appropiate League and playing together far more frequently. There should be clear expectations that a number of Academy Players will progress to the Second XI AND that, given the gap between 1st 2nd XI cricket that at least 2 Games per Season will be held at Trent Bridge so that they can experience both the 'atmosphere' of the Ground and the quality of the playing surface.

Change that might cost a few bob...

If the Second XI and Academy are to be based at Notts Sports Ground, invest in that facility. Resolve the issues with the Rugby club, and instead of building a glass box on top of Radcliffe Road, building a new pavilion with spectator seating at Lady Bay should have been funded for starters.

There are more but I'm taking too long over this...


Any Committee member not reading the original comments, should go to https://nottsview.blogspot.com/2019/07/change-for-good.html