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Saturday 9 November 2019
Open Letter to Lisa
Open Letter To Ms Lisa Pureshouse , CEO Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Dear Lisa,
With sadness I have to say there is growing concern about the management of our great club.
These include the lack of proper consultation and vote for members, who own the club, over The Hundred, terrible performance of the first team, particularly in 2019, but also in 2 of the 3 preceding years, and the lack of customers for the new Six Restaurant.
On the Hundred, it was annoying to hear the Chairman of ECB at The House of Commons select committee hearing say that county members were fully consulted on the competition, and could have voted it down if they had wished to. This was simply not true at Notts and most other counties.
We have lost some players recently who have gone to other counties. No new players have as yet been signed. Supporters may not want a huge influx of players, but given the mostly terrible performances of our senior players last season, it would be useful to have a reliable batsman and bowler to guide our young players who are still at the club.
Salaries are rightly unknown to us, but morale is clearly low in the team and squad. Is there a big gulf between pay for the 4 high profile players who signed in 2018 for 2019, and the players who have been with the club longer ? Is signing players on contracts for only 2 of the formats causing tension between them and players who are available for all matches ? And how is the feeling between players drafted for the Hundred, and those who missed out on the big money ? These are questions we may never know the answers to, but we as members will always be concerned when we clearly see heads down and grim expressions on the field. A losing side is never a happy side, but this was the case from April onwards last season.
But a direct request is for the club to issue a statement on the financial position of the club. The Six Restaurant and related capital costs, including new media facilities, were very high. It seemed the restaurant was poorly attended on match days and the high expenditure failed to secure us an Ashes Test for 2023.
So are we looking at a financial gamble that went horribly wrong ? The current situation explained with the books would be helpful, and a summary and comments on them well before the release of the full accounts for the AGM in February.
Many Thanks,
Richard Day Member NCCC
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That is a very gracious letter Richard but one which I doubt will elicit an equally gracious response. We are where we are following a number of historic poor decisions. I personally feel that our CEO is doing a good job but under a very real cloud of unease at some of the management arrangements that currently exist and ought to be changed urgently - the Club and its senior Managers have to be seen as beyond even the mildest suspicions. We can not sustain allegations of nepotism.
ReplyDeleteThe matter of 'Restaurant Six' is extremely concerning - I hear rumours of it costing the Club tens of thousands of pounds. There is the rumour of the Head Chef being paid a six figure salary for a limited number of days work and the Restaurant not being able to be open 7 days per week.
The different Formats of the Game and the different number being played by different players has to cause differential rates of pay - I am sure that some players will feel that they have achieved better deals than others and some who didn't get selected for the 100 may wonder why not!!!!
We also lack a Batting Coach and there are major concerns about the Head Coach and the Bowling Coach - one wonders just what Darren Bicknell's role on the Committee is and whether he may feel 'compromised' being, as it appears, one of the Coaches for one of the younger age groups.
We all need to keep asking relevant and searching questions because it is indeed OUR Club - WE own it, not the Committee; the Director of Cricket the CEO or anyone else.
Thank - You for your response. This is the saddest time I have known in following Cricket for 55 years, worse than Packer, worse than the South Africa rows. But cricket is fortunate to have people who really love it like yourself
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. Worst I've personally know it at TB. We've had poorer teams and probably as poor seasons if you take all the formats into account(lets face it after the Rice/Hadlee era we were awful at white ball until Fleming and Hussey arrived) BUT it FEELS worse to myself and a lot of supporters I meet around the ground. It feels like the hierarchy are taking us loyal red ball enthusiasts for granted, want us to buy our memberships and then basically shut up and accept performances on the field no matter how dire they are.Possibly people like myself who have been supporting the green&golds for over 40 years have just got to accept the direction the game is hurtling in at a huge speed and like never before. But I speak as someone who watches all the three formats and enjoys them all equally, watches the stiffs down at the palatial Bay and also goes to some away games when working commitments allow also. So all in all it's a bit disturbing that people like myself feel this way about the club?
DeleteJust a word about the apparently "failing" SIX restaurant . From the onset it was almost a secret project . It all sounded very elitist - and very upmarket and expensive . Information about its opening hours /days were hard to come by . Almost impossible to find out what the menus were and the pricing structure . Notts Members were never encouraged to have a look around the place when it was eventually finished . The two lifts in the Rad Road stand were programmed not to actually take you up to the restaurant itself - without an escort ! .The Members I spoke to about it just had the impression the place was not intended 'for the likes of us". It was targeted at the "toffs" and discerning people with money . The price of the Sunday lunch was way above similar offerings elsewhere all over Nottm . The menus themselves seemed poor value . Seemingly all about presentation and not about content . I could go on .
ReplyDeleteSo to me its not surprising that the place is short of customers and draining the Notts finances . It will I think need an urgent change of direction to get the place packed out and on a proper footing and with a reasonably price menu structure . It would appear that there are several very highly paid Chefs and Bar experts who perhaps should be unloaded to ease the escalating costs of running the place .
The view from up there must be amazing and I am looking forward to eating a reasonably priced lunch on several match days next season .
There are not enough customers in Nottingham willing to pay £50 a head for lunch and possibly £100 a head for an evening meal .
What do others have to say on this subject ?
"Lets keep the red flag flying high......."
ReplyDeleteAt last a bit of good news(well, in theory at least) as well as being headhunted by the TrentDeepPockets Matt Carter also decides he wants to stay at the much more sedate Notts CCC and pens a new 2 yearer. Would like to see him try to develop his batting more so he could perhap, eventually, be a genuine no 9 or even higher. Presumably will be competing with Patel and LPW for the solitary spinner role in red ball next season although if the fixtures are as awful as suggested, there may not be much need for a slow twirler in some of the red ball fixtures.
ReplyDeleteYes the retention of Matt Carter is good news but it's announcement worries me as I don't trust them (Know-all and Pursestrings) anymore. What are they softening us up for? What bombshell awaits in the next couple of weeks?
DeleteJust wait!!!
DeleteYes, I agree, who does trust them anymore? Who is desperate, out of work or injury prone for our overseas this year? And im NOT having a dig at Patto as he was BRILLIANT for us first time around
DeleteThat’s an excellent letter Richard. I sent one to Lancashire’s Chief Executive , Daniel Gidney when I resigned my membership a few years ago . To his credit , I got a very thorough and gracious reply hoping that I would change my mind and offering me a day at a County Championship game in the top facilities, tour round etc. However, I had already decided that Old Trafford wasn’t a place that I wanted to spend much time watching County Cricket.
ReplyDeleteIt’s sad if your club is being mismanaged . Forgive me if I’ve said this before but I had several years as a member of Notts till about three years ago. I envied the splendid ground and it felt like a place where members mattered which hadn’t felt the case for years at OT. The only reason I resigned as a member at Notts was that the fixture list was particularly hopeless for one year. I never minded that I might not get my full value for money if I only came to 2 games a season but it was impossible to do even that that year.
Despite the thrilling cricket that was in the headlines last year, it is a depressing time to be a cricket supporter with the corrupt ECB apparently determined to wreck the first class game and I think that applies even at well run and successful counties. I suppose in any age it is a theme of life for old dinosaurs like me to be disillusioned. Look back 150 years and Thomas Hardy’s books were full of sadness at the ending of the way of life he knew and I’ve just come to accept that everything I love is threatened with extinction.
Really appreciate your comments and sorry to read you feel that way. Flora Thompson, like Hardy, wrote about people losing the World they knew. But life and even cricket have a strange habit of surviving despite low poilitics in every sphere and on every side
DeleteTime waits for no man..............
ReplyDeleteI suppose every older generation thinks that the upcoming new generation are ruining things ?
But in crickets case I think the older ones are correct in questioning which way cricket is developing . If the 100 Ball Comp turns out to be a disaster ( I reckon the odds are 50/50) - then what happens ?
Its worrying to me that I have not yet met one single cricket lover who is interested in the 100 Ball comp .
Where will all the new spectators come from ? We will need them to fill the grounds and create an atmosphere . How many families will be able to see the BLAST T20 games AND the 100 Ball ones ? For parents with a couple of children ( the target audience?) the total cost would be exhorbitant surely ?
Just to confirm, this went to our CEO by electronic mail. No reply as yet, but she is welcome to reply direct to me, or indeed on here. I am sure there would be good mannered, but candid responses. So what are you afraid of Lisa ?
ReplyDelete