Dear member,
We hope that you are well, and have enjoyed the opening months of the cricketing summer.
Prior to our Men’s Test between England and Zimbabwe, we wrote to you with an update on discussions around the shape of the domestic schedule – and confirmed that we would begin a period of consultation with you following the Test.
Although we have not yet received any formal proposals to share with you, we have been informed that a second round of meetings between Professional County Clubs, the PCA and the ECB will take place across the weeks of 16 and 23 June.
We have all been through our fair share of domestic schedule reviews in the past decade – and the only thing on which the game has been able to agree so far is that the current schedule does not satisfy all parties.
Whilst there are a variety of views and a focus on the volume of red-ball cricket, we believe the discussion is much wider than that.
We are now more than a men’s county club – whilst men’s domestic cricket remains at the heart of our club, we are home to a professional women’s team, two teams in The Hundred and every international format of the game.
Each of these teams and formats is crucial to our ongoing viability as a leading venue and thriving members’ club, and we want to have an open and constructive debate with our membership.
For the game to come up with the best possible solution, it is important for all parties – including members – to understand the wider challenges of the modern cricketing landscape as we seek a more suitable calendar in the summers to come.
We have put together a summary and background information to provide context on factors ranging from major matches to the player pathway and facilities. Browse the summary in full here…
We will also hold a members’ forum on during the lunch interval of Nottinghamshire vs Yorkshire on Sunday 22 June (scheduled for 1pm), in the Radcliffe Road Stand's Sobers or Hadlee Hall.
In the meantime, to help us to fully understand the issues which are of most importance to you, we have put together a short survey in which you can outline your cricketing preferences. Complete the survey found in your own Email as the coding has embedded my details (when I share the link).
You will note the errors in some multiple choice answers and that much of the questions indicate a cut in the amount of cricket is on the cards.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
We’ll be in touch with further details, and we look forward to hearing your views.
20/05
Dear member,
Thank you for your continued, committed support during the opening exchanges of the season.
This week, we have the honour of hosting the opening Test of the English summer, with England facing Zimbabwe in a four-day fixture from Thursday.
This will be an historic fixture for the visitors, as they compete in their first Test on these shores since June 2000, when we played host to a highly competitive encounter.
We have enjoyed a fruitful association with Zimbabwean cricket in the years that have followed – with Brendan Taylor at the heart of our side for three summers, and with Andy Flower enjoying success at our venue as Head Coach of England and Trent Rockets.
We look forward to giving both sides a traditional Trent Bridge welcome this week. If you haven’t secured your tickets yet, you can still do so either via the Ticket Office or by purchasing online here...
If you are joining us this week, you’ll notice continued progress with our Pavilion redevelopment. This includes the removal of the roof, as we prepare to build the additional floors that will enable us to provide the facilities required to meet the demands of the international and domestic calendar.
Discussions around the shape of the domestic schedule, meanwhile, are underway. Over the past few weeks, the first round of discussions between the ECB and professional county clubs has taken place, with the last meetings with counties being held yesterday. We hope to receive information following up on these discussions in the next few weeks.
At our recent members’ forum, we spoke at length about how we expect the process to work as discussions around the schedule continue. If you attended, we hope you found the opportunity for open debate useful.
What was apparent in the forum was that many of you are keen to understand the challenges we face as we seek to remain a home for all formats of cricket.
Scheduling is complex, and we must acknowledge the evolving nature of our sport, our teams and our venues. While hosting all forms of international cricket remains crucial to helping us thrive as a venue, we must also embrace the rapid growth of the women’s game, the advent of The Hundred, and the need to protect traditional formats.
We’re sure most would agree that the present schedule is less than perfect,
At the forum, we committed to a period of consultation and the launch of channels of feedback to allow all voices to be heard.
We will begin this process in the days following the conclusion of the Test, and will offer a range of avenues through which you will be able to give your views – including in-person forums and opportunities to share your opinions with us online through a dedicated portal.
We’ll be in touch with further details, and we look forward to hearing your views.
Warm regards,
We trust that you are well, and have enjoyed the opening exchanges of the County Championship season either via our live stream or at Trent Bridge in the spring sunshine.
Our home may have felt a little unfamiliar in places as our Pavilion development continues, but it has been good to see that the replacement facilities in The Clubhouse, located in the Derek Randall Suite, have been warmly received and used by many of you.
Behind the sheets and barriers which surround the building, our Pavilion development remains on track, and we look forward to progressing this important project throughout the year.
As the season hits its stride, there are two off-field matters affecting the wider game – both of which we will keep you informed of in the months to come.
Firstly, the process of finalising the sale of stakes in the eight competing teams in The Hundred is ongoing, and while this stage has continued beyond the initial eight-week window which was allocated, it is important that a task of this complexity is not rushed.
All parties continue to work together to complete the transactions and we look forward to reaching a positive outcome, and to the opportunities this injection of investment and expertise will bring to the whole game.
Secondly, it has recently been announced that a review into the men’s domestic playing programme will be undertaken. This will be led by the Professional Game Committee and will look at options around how to optimise the men’s domestic structure to ensure the best competitions.
At this stage we have not been given any proposals or details to share with you, but initial meetings with the Chairs and Chief Executives of the Professional Cricket Clubs are expected to commence within the next three weeks.
The review will, no doubt, be a complex process – the task of balancing the concerns of members and supporters with operational issues and the welfare of players will not be simple.
This is not, of course, the first attempt that has been made to improve the men's domestic structure, but given all parties agree that improvements are required, it is being approached in a collaborative spirit.
It is important that we all contribute to this discussion and consider any options that emerge. We will keep you informed and updated as we receive information, and will seek your feedback on any proposals.
Finally, we can confirm that the first members' forum of 2025 will take place on Friday 9 May, during the lunch interval on day one of Notts' County Championship fixture with Hampshire.
With the Derek Randall Suite remaining in use as a members' facility, the forum will instead take place in the Hadlee Hall, on the second floor of the Radcliffe Road Stand.
Our Director of Cricket Mick Newell and Head Coach Peter Moores will join us on the panel to answer your questions. There is no need to register your attendance in advance.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the forum – and we thank you, as ever, for your continued support.
Lisa and Andy
13/02
Dear member
I trust that you have wintered well and are looking forward, as we all are, to the return of county cricket in a few weeks' time.
While our players’ preparations are well underway for the new season, off the field, we have commenced 2025 with two major strategic items at the very forefront of our minds.
Firstly, the redevelopment of the Trent Bridge Pavilion is now underway - and as we have previously shared with you, this project is vital in securing our future as a Test Match venue. We will be able to provide you with a more detailed update at the upcoming AGM on Monday 24 February.
Secondly, the ECB-led process to secure private investment into the eight teams competing in The Hundred yesterday reached a crucial stage, as the sale of a stake in Southern Brave signalled the conclusion of the auction process.
Throughout the process, there has been significant interest in all teams from a range of prospective investors, with eight bidders now entering an exclusivity period.
We thought that it would be useful to share the ECB’s summary of the process to date, which has been released this morning, and is available here…
ECB Chair Richard Thompson, meanwhile, has written a message to the whole game, which is available here…
The ECB have also compiled answers to a series of frequently asked questions on the process, which can be found here…
Throughout this process, our overarching principle has been to seek the best partner for Trent Rockets; one which shares our ambition for growing the reach of the team, but that also respects the heritage and tradition of our club, and shares our love for all formats of the game.
With that in mind, we can confirm that Cain International and Ares Management are to be our partners in owning Trent Rockets, when ownership of the team transfers to us later this year.
You can read more about Cain and Ares here...
We now enter an eight-week period of exclusivity, and there remains much work to be done during this period. Following the satisfactory conclusion of the exclusivity period, Cain and Ares will acquire the ECB’s 49% stake in Trent Rockets, while we will retain the majority 51% stake.
We look forward to delivering our reports at AGM and providing you with further updates on these key developments.
Thank you for your support as we’ve worked through this critically important period for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, and for the wider professional and recreational game.
Lisa Pursehouse
Chief Executive
Andy Hunt
Chair
29/01
And still not a dickie bird out those two
28/01
As Lancashire CCC have now rearranged a Members' Forum for 12 February
where the
"Key items on the agenda will include the nature of our preferred partner in The Hundred investment process, the potential financial outcome and most importantly the potential use of any funds generated."Why hasn't anyone from NCCC followed-up with their promise to keep our membership informed?
Are they waiting a little longer to present a done deal, once the deal is done?
In what way is that consultation?
21 Oct 2024
THE SALE OF TRENT ROCKETS
with comments
Dear member,
With the 2024 season concluded and the autumnal weather taking hold, we wanted to thank you for your support of the club and for your continued interest in the challenges and opportunities this winter will provide.
This year, our off-season is shaping up to be particularly important as we look to progress our plans to redevelop the Trent Bridge Pavilion and to continue with our ongoing discussions around The Hundred – in particular, how best to harness the interest from potential private investors.
and how the latter can pay for the former
Over the course of the season, we have consulted with members through written updates and events, where we presented the latest developments and listened to your views. The forums we held in August were very constructive and helped us to begin to address your questions and concerns, and to shape our feedback to the ECB.
this is where the consultation has been mis-sold to members! Members have not been consulted, they have been given an opportunity to ask questions but haven't been able to question those responses. At no point were members "consulted" before a policy ( the pathway going forward / the direction of travel) was presented as a done deal.
Oxford Dictionary: CONSULT seek information or advice from...
In essence the Chair and the CEO have got the whole process backwards, by design and are using phrases like "we have consulted with members" in an attempt to hoodwink members into thinking that they, the members, have had a choice and have agreed to this process.
There were some common themes emerging from the feedback we have received, but we are aware that many members were not able to attend those consultation events. We have, therefore, summarised the responses to date in a detailed Frequently Asked Questions document, which you can read here...
again they have made their decisions, so you can put-up with it and shut up, but please read those FAQs
You can also access the slides that were presented at the forums here...
previously screen grabbed and shown on Nottsview
During this year’s tournament, the ECB sought to establish the level of interest amongst private investors in taking stakes in the eight teams. The club has supported this process by hosting several interested parties who were keen to understand the cricketing, commercial and operational standing of our teams and our venue.
The ECB commenced the first stage of the sales process at the end of September, with interested parties invited to signal their intent. Potential investors have received marketing materials and financial projections for all eight teams and have been given the opportunity to ask the ECB and its advisors any initial questions.
This was a really important step as we continue to develop the process. It was designed to ascertain the level of interest from investors and to give the game a steer on the financial impact of any potential sale of stakes in the eight teams.
This stage of the process concluded on Friday 18 October, and we understand there has been significant interest. By the end of this week, we expect the ECB to update us and to inform us of the level of interest private investors have shown in Trent Rockets.
We are aware that a high-profile sales process such as this will be subject to a great deal of speculation in the media, which is likely to continue in the months ahead.
and hopefully a great deal of scrutiny as well by real independent professionals
There is still much to be determined and discussed and you can be assured that we will continue to provide updates as the process evolves and look forward to continuing the consultation process in the weeks ahead.
there they go again, they are not going to seek information or advice from the members, they intend to tell the members when they've done the deal for better or for worse.
Please do get in touch if you have any thoughts or comments by emailing thehundred@trentbridge.co.uk
I just might
Am I alone in feeling that when told that there would be a consultation with members, that it was to be the club that would be consulting with the members, not a presentation where the Chair and CEO inform members after the event (and them calling that a consultation)?
Winter well.
Lisa Pursehouse
Chief Executive
Andy Hunt
Chair
81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteOH DEAR !
Oh dear , oh dear
Does anyone actually believe the Notts Members have been consulted about what is actually going on ?
Are they being “ sold down the river” and expected to enjoy the ride ?
Very patronising
ReplyDeleteI love that line this process is not about money
Well it's all about the money full stop
This process is going to be a total
Car crash including the new pavilion development would you trust these 🤡
After there last disastrous six project
Ho I forgot it did make a small profit
Stated by the CEO 🤣🤣🤣 incompetence
At its best
Sadly Lisa and her top table idea of consultation is ! Lecture lecture lecture and take no questions
ReplyDeleteI always remember the wise words of a planning inspector during a public inquiry:
ReplyDelete"May I remind you that the principal organ of consultation is the ears, not the mouth".
so true
DeleteI thought that Marinakis was buying the Trent Rockets and why hasn't the Pavilion been demolished yet. Is it still definitely happening.
ReplyDeleteAll press speculation and nothing can happen until Lisa decides where to locate the Red Nose Day Stuart Broad End plaque (most importantly).
ReplyDeleteGoing back to 21st October above, had not noticed that sale of Rockets, if it happens and raises enough, intended to pay for Pavilion works. That potentially leaves nothing then for any kind of other investment in the club, youth etc ? Beginning to understand, a little more, the wall of silence on both ever since.
ReplyDeleteread this one Rich https://nottsview.blogspot.com/2025/01/franchise-debate-2025.html
ReplyDeleteThere will be no consultations with the members they will do a deal & more than
ReplyDeleteLikely reveal the news at the AGM slapping each other on the back
Be careful what you wish for
Consultation [with someone] defination from cambridge.org: as part of, or as the result of a discussion about something with someone in order to get their advice or opinion about it
ReplyDeleteRead all the links, and still not the faintest idea what these people have actually 'bought'.
ReplyDeleteAnd when they realise that what they've gobbled up is a lossmaking, assetless sports Ponzi scheme, do we think these international consortia will just write off their hundreds of millions of dollars and move on? Or we do we think they'll get very mad indeed and exert massive pressure to expand the H*ndred playing window, downgrade the CC, reduce spend on the club and junior game, and much more?
And: has anybody noticed that H*ndred era Mens and Womens England are getting absolutely battered in all formats...? I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
Yes England can't bat for 50 overs in any format at the moment. It used to be a cardinal sin not to bat your alotted overs, now they appear not to care.
DeleteWell they have 8 weeks to do there due diligence & look at the real ECB accounts to find out just what they've really invested in
Delete81NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteYES - anyone who has followed the Hundred Ball franchise auction must wonder why the various teams have generated such vast amounts of. Is there an ulterior motive - short or long term ? Is it a question of first of all getting your feet under the table - and go from there? It’s natural of course to be wary of new money from new people , many from distant foreign parts who may not appreciate our ancient cricket history and traditions . But surely the new essential riches have to be welcomed . Where on earth would cricket otherwise get fresh cash from . It’s common knowledge that one or two Counties were virtually insolvent . The new money should ensure their long term future one way or another.
Who knows , it’s quite possible that Derbyshire will now be able to replace that awful permanent “ temporary” stand !🤪
Not sure that you solve the problem of poorly run and underperforming county clubs by a one-off sugar rush of cash. Also - watch the bonuses. Very carefully. An awful lot of this Monopoly money will be disappearing into cricket exec LTIPs.
DeleteThat's it. Let's have a go at the smaller counties. Derbyshire are a friendly club in my experience with nice hard working staff and approachable people at the top. Notts?
DeleteThe Falcon Stand, designed for dwarfs to sit in comfort but for persons of a fuller size, soddin' agony, it needs adaptions - that's not having a go at Derbyshire.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteApart from the odd officious jobs-worth steward, the place is usually a friendly place if you ignore the tribal drunks at a T20
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DeleteMulti-billionaires - what interest do they have in the piddling TV revenues, they are billionaires already,
ReplyDeleteSo what have they bought really? We're not being told!
ECB in Q&As above, "There is no intention to change the length of the (Hundred) window, and it will not be within the control of the partners to do this."
ReplyDeleteBBC Cricket website headline,
"Future Hundred expansion a 'no brainer' - ECB"
Both cannot be true !
Mr Thompson claims they can, but an extension to, say 10 teams, would mean circa 12 more matches, inc more for each existing team. It seems highly likely that would require more time, more of the schedule, as schedule quite tight as it is. BBC on line reporter also sees it that way.
ReplyDelete81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteI fear for the existing Blast 20 Comp . Could well be squeezed out if the 100 Ball comp expands to more teams and thus more matches . The money is on the 100 baller to come out on top .
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAm I reading this right ? For most teams, not in play offs, just 8 CC matches ? Know this is not official, but if does happen, would seem beyond our worst nightmares.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that anyone would be seriously considering pitching that to members. We'll have to wait for find out what Him and Her have to say at these forums/information evenings/q&as/whatever. Having the threat of an EGM or SGM hanging might be useful. Members should vote for such, if they don't want to lose a meaningful County Championship[ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4JfZPOgsVT_tI2Bv-rP8tVnVGWG4oKEvfcgchUSHFViVVKA/viewform?usp=dialog ]
DeleteThink Chair has said something, but print was so small could not read it. Wonder what ?
ReplyDelete81 NOT OUT .
ReplyDeleteIs treason still a hanging offence ?