Lancashire SGM- Result

 

Lancs SGM here

Lancashire Cricket can confirm the results of the voting process following this evening’s Special General Meeting (SGM) which took place at Emirates Old Trafford:

For Resolution 1 - 898 voted AGAINST the Resolution and 610 voted FOR the Resolution.

For Resolution 2 - 1,043 voted AGAINST the Resolution and 452 voted FOR the Resolution.

As a result, neither Resolution was passed. This is the outcome which our Board and Executive Team hoped Members would reach and we are grateful for the support of those Members who voted against the Resolutions.

We would also like to thank all our Members for taking part in the SGM process, and particularly the 1,533 Members who voted on these important issues.

As a Club, we take no pleasure in the Resolutions having been defeated. We believe it is now time for us to come together, in a spirit of compromise, to enable us to work with the ECB and our fellow First-Class Counties to agree on the best possible structure and schedule for the future of domestic cricket.

Following discussion at the SGM, we are concerned about the feeling within a relatively small but, nonetheless, significant group of our Members that the Club does not engage enough with them, and we will work hard to rectify this. We will seek to find appropriate ways of improving the effectiveness of our two-way communication.

It is important to realise however, that the Member-requisitioned SGM process is cumbersome, restrictive, time consuming and extremely expensive to facilitate. For this reason, our preference remains to hold a Members’ Forum with a binding vote once, and only once, we have a concrete proposal emerging from the ECB-led discussions with the First-Class Counties.  

Our Members’ Representative Group (MRG) is at the disposal of Members to engage in discussion on all Membership issues, and the Club is ready to hold Members’ Forums as and when appropriate. We encourage our Members, irrespective of their voting preferences at this SGM to engage with our MRG. Our Executive Team and Board are available to support the MRG and engage with Members via this process.

Lancashire Cricket will now continue our discussions with the ECB and our fellow First-Class Counties on the domestic schedule. We will update Members as soon as there is new information to be shared. It should be noted that, in the meantime, we will not engage in speculation on potential scheduling solutions.

Once discussions with the ECB arrive at a final proposal on reform of the future domestic schedule, the Club will publish details of the proposal and the associated binding Member vote. This will be held via a Members’ Forum and its result will have the same effect as if it had been held via an SGM.

County Cricket Members' Group:

Vote to preserve LCCC

We argue that the events of recent months pose a major threat to LCCC's continued existence as a member-owned society whose central purpose is to play first class cricket. 

The ECB demand to reduce county cricket together with LCCC chiefs' responses, especially reducing the number of matches in the "traditional" membership & offering voting rights to people principally supporting Manchester Originals, should be voted upon by all members at a SGM.

Ten reasons to support the SGM resolutions
 
1. Guarantees no reduction in county championship (CC) without your permission 

2. LCCC chiefs clearly want the freedom to do a deal with reduced CC games

3. LCCC not isolated. Members at all major counties oppose reducing CC too.

4. Promised vote could offer choice of two bad deals!
 
5. It is possible to keep 14 CC games and schedule better for player welfare
LCCC chiefs given a copy of possible schedule but declined to discuss it at forum on 27th.

6. Big threat of franchise expansion and more county shrinkage
Likely to be two more franchise teams soon.
Sensible compromises on 100 schedule/releasing players back not considered.
Franchise future sale poses major risk of counties being consumed.

7. New LCCC membership terms betray Board's vision for future seasons?
Less county cricket, 30 days maximum not 41 this season.
Franchise supporters given LCCC voting rights.

8. Poor handling: meetings denied, called, postponed, cancelled & controlled

9. Are members concerns being respected given the importance of all this? 
Let's get answers to very serious questions about the club's future.

10. Insist on improvements for members that respond to your concerns

Respect LCCC's purpose as a member owned club to play county cricket.

Please do go to the SGM. Vote for "A First Class Future For All"!

PS:

You can read Keaton Jennings on how to keep 14 CC games so ask yourself why we aren't seeing LCCC chiefs take a lead to do just that. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/keaton-jennings-argues-against-reduction-in-number-of-county-championship-fixtures-1334764

Lancashire appear to think that the problem lies within their membership and not with the Strauss proposals. If their leadership team could be trusted to vote in accordance with the will of their members, then none of this process would be necessary. The existence of the Hundred is proof that county Chairs and CEOs don't actually vote according to the best interests of county members. Lancashire CCC are not alone.

from LCCC

Special General Meeting

The Resolutions being put forward at the Special General Meeting (SGM) on 12 October 2022 focus on just one element of the High-Performance Review (HPR). It risks limiting the Club’s ability to influence the outcome of discussions around the domestic schedule and your future decision-making power.

The Club asks you to please vote AGAINST these Resolutions because of the following:

• The Resolutions will narrow the vote for all Members on the proposals.
• We are committed to providing the best outcome for Members and players. To do so we need to play a full, unencumbered part in the discussions with the ECB and the other 17 Counties.
• The SGM was requisitioned the day before the HPR proposals were published and so does not consider the proposals in their entirety.
• Tying our hands on one element of the HPR, without considering the wider context, is unlikely to be in the best interests of the Club.
• We will hold a binding Member vote following our further discussions with the ECB ensuring that our Members have the final decision on the FULL proposals.
• We are here to win and want to ensure our players are performing at the highest standard.
• Resolution 2 is in effect a censure of the Club’s Board and management team over a failure to communicate. We have shared all relevant information with you, our Members, as soon as it has been received from the ECB and will continue to do so. What we have not done is engage in speculation and social media debate. We believe it is inappropriate for a leading County Cricket Club to do so.

Lancashire Action Group:

LANCASHIRE MEMBERS ACT NOW AND HELP TO SAVE THE FUTURE OF LANCASHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB

 

All members will shortly receive the notice of the SGM and a proxy form to vote if they cannot go to the meeting at 7 pm on Wednesday 12th October.

This is the first SGM called by Members for 57 years. If you are a member please do your utmost to attend.

Why an SGM is essential.

Over 300 members have signed one of the SGM requests.  Many more would have signed if asked.  We may have around 3,500 voting members but typically only 300 to 400 people do vote at an AGM.  

The ECB reforms to reduce the championship to 10 games along with an expanding Hundred (now going to 2028) is a mortal threat to county cricket clubs. The Hundred is likely to expand even more and we have no say in that.

Membership and attendances will fall leaving smaller counties on the brink of going bust. Old Trafford may survive as a major match venue but LCCC faces being absorbed by the gradual spread of the franchise teams. 

The Board's decision to offer voting rights at LCCC with an effective season ticket to Manchester Originals cricket fans demonstrates just how little they understand or respect member concerns.

The removal of a traditional membership that allowed access to 41 home days of county cricket replaced by just 30 days is an action that speaks louder than any promises of votes at some future member forum.

For an issue of this importance, then the SGM is the right way to discuss and vote as set out in our rules.

Problems with relying on forums

The club's management called the last member forums giving just 1 working day's notice by email.   Such actions excluded a substantial proportion of the membership. 

The discussion at the forum was limited in terms of what could be asked and the meeting closed abruptly just after challenging issues were being raised in a respectful manner. Can you imagine we will be given the chance to debate new membership terms at a forum?

The promise to a future binding vote could be withdrawn, modified, or implemented in a limited way.  Remember the SGM papers issued on 16 August promised only to consult members with no binding vote mentioned. Only a few days before the CEO had offered a binding vote which was welcomed by many members!

All members have now been sent written notice in the post to either attend in person or vote by proxy. Everyone has the chance to have their say and have it respected on such a vital topic.

Proxy voting

At the SGM you can vote to achieve two vital things with the club's board:

1. Instruct the chairman to oppose any ECB proposal that may emerge in the winter months to reduce first-class cricket in future years.
2. Improve how the Board responds to member concerns about the risk to our club and  require them to make changes that respect our wishes

If you cannot go then please return your form signed with your name, address, and membership number.  You do not need to appoint a proxy to vote for you so you can leave that blank.

Do not forget to actually vote for the SGM motions otherwise the chairman will vote against them on your behalf!

Any queries then please get in touch.

Together we can ensure that member wishes are respected!

Thank you for your support,

Ian Lomax
Lancs Action Group

Make your vote count 

For those who cannot attend the SGM on Wednesday 12 October, we urge Members to return their proxy vote via the pre-paid envelope that was sent out. To ensure your vote counts, please post your vote back by 7 October.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club held a Members’ Forum on Wednesday 28 September with the sole purpose of allowing Members the opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the High-Performance Review and to discuss the report with the Club’s Supervisory Board.

The hybrid Forum drew the greatest attendance of a Member event for a number of years, highlighting the strength of feeling among the Membership for the topic.

Chairman, Ian Morgan OBE, and Chief Executive, Ryan Duckett, provided an overview of the report and its potential impact on Derbyshire commercially, as well as its fundamental changes to the fabric of the game.

Head of Cricket, Mickey Arthur, praised the standard of the county game, as well as the loyal support of Members up and down the country, while stressing his view that the issues remain with scheduling rather than the quantity of matches.

Members raised questions and spoke with passion, with the overriding expression being one of opposition to the proposals which impact the domestic structure, including a reduction in the amount of cricket played across all formats.

The discourse suggested emphasis should be placed on the schedule, rather than structure, while there is no compelling argument within the current proposals to suggest that change would necessarily be for the betterment of the game.

The Club would like to thank the Members for their ardent and considered opinions and the Supervisory Board will take these views into account should the parameters of any vote be confirmed by the England & Wales Cricket Board.

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Sothe wording not so clean cut as Dave Griffin felt at the forum but good news on binding vote at relegated Yorkshire

Members' Forum to be held on 27 September to discuss High-Performance Review proposals

Lancashire Cricket will hold a Members’ Forum on Tuesday 27 September 2022 which will take place in the Members’ Suite at Emirates Old Trafford.

The meeting will begin shortly after the close of play as Lancashire take on Surrey in the final LV=County Championship fixture of the 2022 season.

The Forum will focus exclusively on the ECB’s recent High-Performance Review (HPR), following the release of the final report earlier this week. We would urge as many Members as possible to attend in person on the day, although a recording of the meeting will be available on the Club’s website the following day.

The panel will include Daniel Gidney (CEO), Mark Chilton (Director of Cricket Performance), Glen Chapple (Men’s Head Coach), Dane Vilas (Men's Captain) and Sam Byrne (Lead Physiotherapist).

In advance of the Forum, the ECB’s HPR proposals regarding changes to the structure of domestic cricket were discussed at length at a Board meeting of the Club held on Friday 23 September.

Lancashire Cricket appreciates the hard work that the ECB, Sir Andrew Strauss and others have put into the HPR in recent months. We support the overall intention to raise standards throughout professional cricket with the intention of helping the England Men’s team to become more successful on a consistent and sustainable basis. However, there are elements within the proposals about which we have reservations.

As a Club, we will always support the wider game and our national teams, but our primary focus must always be on Lancashire Cricket, its players and Members, ultimately ensuring that we act in the best interests of the Club.

All of us at the Club believe that the current domestic schedule is not working effectively and needs change. There are many positives within the HPR proposals, particularly around player welfare. However, we have significant concerns with some of the HPR proposals, notably around the structure of the County Championship. We do not feel the proposed structure will properly aid the development of young players and may well encourage short-term thinking. We also feel that the HPR ignores other important aspects, most notably officiating and the impact of overseas players in domestic cricket.

It is our hope that following a period of discussion and debate with the ECB and our colleagues at other First-Class Counties, we will be able to present to Members a workable solution for change to the domestic structure. We do not believe that the HPR proposal works in its current form, and so will not be presenting this to Members as a solution.

When we feel that the ECB and the 18 counties have reached a proposal which is workable, we will present this to the Membership, at a Members’ Forum, and provide Members with an opportunity to debate the proposal and to vote on it. The outcome of this vote will direct the Club’s vote at any Chairs’ meeting to approve the changes.

15/09

(LANCASHIRE) MEMBERS PLEASE FILL IN THE BELOW FORM TO REQUEST AN SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

 

Form enclosed to request a Special General Meeting

The form can be easily accessed here:

https://forms.gle/9VtxZsThDjT6KbUHA

All members are invited to fill it in. Unfortunately, we do not trust the Club in making sure they give members a proper say in how the Club will vote and we risk losing more Championship games in the future. Please fill in the above form with your name, membership number, and email address. The club can't reasonably ignore such a request with all this information.

The Club has postponed its members' forum on the 19th to some later date after the ECB sends out its proposals. The club says it does not know when the ECB will formally publish its proposals. Yet Strauss pushed them all on TV and in the newspapers.

Hiding behind the lack of formal proposals is poor. Other counties are all holding their member forums this week. Lancashire should have already moved ours to the Surrey game starting on the 26th September.

The club has already cancelled its own Special General Meeting (SGM) after members started voting by proxy. It refused to send out notices for the SGM called by the members themselves on 17 August.

IT IS IN SERIOUS BREACH OF ITS OWN RULES!

It says an SGM is not needed because there is to be a members forum with a vote. At the members' forum on 5th September, CEO Gidney talked only about giving members a vote at the 19th on changes to the 2023 season.

We now know there are to be no major changes in 2023 so what is happening for 2024 and will members get a say?

2024 changes

We know that the ECB are still pushing strongly for the following changes to be made for 2024 onwards.

1. Only 10 county championship games.
2. Top division of 6, with two feeder divisions of 6
3. The Hundred to stay and One Day Cup to move

It is likely that counties will vote on these changes later this year, possibly by November. The ECB could choose not to publish anything formal until the county chiefs have finished their private negotiations.

Lancashire members might only be consulted once a deal is all but done amongst the counties!

Franchise threat to county cricket

The new ECB chairman recently stated that it was inevitable that the ECB would sell the franchise teams. First, they want to increase their value.

We know from the wider county campaign that some county chairs sound like they will support ECB reforms in return for an extra franchise team in their area.

The space given up in the schedule by the counties could see an expansion to 10 to 12 franchise teams very soon. Franchise fixtures could extend into July as well as dominate all of August. Once sold to billionaires, then what chance of the remaining counties surviving in their present form?

If we don't stop this dead in its track now, then we risk losing the identities of clubs like ours. We cannot wait to see what say our club will give us and risk death by a thousand cuts.

SGM required

We anticipated that a further SGM would be needed to put changes beyond 2023 to a vote. We have started to collect the necessary 100 signatures and gained significant support.

We held back calling for signatures from the wider membership because we wanted to give the club's management the chance to deliver on their promised forum. For the reasons set out above, we feel that the SGM now needs to be called and seek your support.

SGM petitions are also in train across Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Somerset, Glamorgan, and Gloucestershire to ensure their members are given a meaningful say.

We aren't just fighting for a few days of the county championship, but for the soul of the game.

All feedback is welcome.

Thank you,

Ian Lomax
Lancs Action Group

14/09

Derbyshire have told their members "all documentation which is released for consideration by counties will be issued to Members via email." 

Will Notts do the same?

12/09

The Strauss led proposals will not be forwarded to the Counties for consultation until after the late Queen Elizabeth's funeral, delaying the process by another week. (according to LCCC website)

I'm not sure what impact they would be expecting if the proposals were released before the Queen was interred but at least now she'll have an opportunity to turn in her grave if the proposals are so horrendous. The ECB are so considerate, even to the dead.

11/09

Tomorrow the counties will get the formal proposals following the Andrew Stauss led review. Whether Nottinghamshire will share those proposals to supporters is another matter but I doubt that they will remain confidential/secret for very long, as Lancashire are up against the clock to inform their membership (for them to make an informed decision before the vote scheduled on the 20th), so then the cat will be out of the bag.

What do we know so far?

• The Hundred is set in stone in August 2023 -2028
• There will be no International matches in August 2023
• There will be two divisions of the County Championship, each of the 18 counties will play 14 matches in 2023 ONLY
• Jeff Moore will not cast Nottinghamshire's vote for anything that reduces the number of County Championship games and as a club, there's no appetite for the "regional county four day friendlies" suggestion. 

I'd imagine that the schedule for 2023 will be very similar to this year, a complete mess for all concerned. The desire to play the One Day Cup in April doesn't dovetail with Strauss' motives of pitching the best against the best, as the best will be milking the sacred cow of the ever expending IPL of its rupees, but they contradict themselves all the time.

In my opinion (but it will never happen), the fairest option would be a season long one day league (3 conferences + knock out rounds), along side a season long Championship (two divisions of 9) playing in every month. Player availability will vary throughout the ups and downs of the season and counties will have to staff their squads accordingly, just as they're had to do for decades. If Mr Strauss wants best v best, they'll have to introduce regional representative competitions (first class and List A) and the best players will play for those regions as well as their counties but those matches are unlikely to attract many spectators unless having them at venues like Scarborough and Cheltenham (festivals) and timing them to coincide with holidays, who knows(?). Play some of those abroad too if necessary. Have the Blast in June/July and Finals day before the Hundred. My assertion is that players do not play too much cricket during an English season.