As I mentioned in my post yesterday, the resolution to amend the rules of the club was passed at the AGM. The full story would be that the motion was passed with votes of; 645 for, 90 against with about 4,200 abstentions. (!)
The following presentations were made:
The batting award for last season went to Darren Maddy and
The allrounder award went to Tim Ambrose (not present).
Dougie Brown was given a warm round of applause in recognition of the service he has given the club, and looked slightly uncomfortable with all the attention.
I picked up on the following points;
By looking through the club annual report and deducting the "shop overheads" and the "shop cost of sales" from the "shop sales" you get a total for 2006 of£38,483. For 2007 that figure is £4,853. This seems shockingly low to me, and shows a 35% drop in sales, whilst in the same time costs rose by 14%. However you mess with the figures however, a sub-£5000 retail (gross) profit, that has such a level of footfall past (and through) its doors is a shocking performance. I expect the club would say this is due to a change in stock, refits, etc, but I would therefore expect to see a much improved performance this year.
I will deal with the stadium, ground plans and international staging agreements in a later post, along with the attached increase in borrowing powers in the new rules, as this all seems to fit together into one overall issue.
Neil Houghton (Chairman) mentioned one interesting point about the appointment of Giles. He admitted in his speech that they wanted to appoint a successor to Greatbatch as soon as possible and preferably before the players went on their winter break. This contrasts quite sharply with Povey's statements at the time that the club would take their time to find the right candidate.
The Treasurer, SG Mills, made an entertaining speech, given that he was presenting the accounts. Apart from some bizarre comment about wanting to play playstation with a U-15 girls team award winner called Laura Croft, which he opened with to general confusion. He said the club are aiming for a £500k operating profit this year and confirmed that last year there was a significant increase in expenses due to the new offices installed and the increase in marketing and PR (+24%), which he explained as investments in the future.
He went onto to make a couple of entertaining statements, that he was at pains to point out were his own and not the clubs. He predicted that within the next 3-5 years a county club would go into administration and predicted that it would be one of the ones pouring money into improving the ground chasing the international cricket bounty. He did emphasise his own ambition but also financial prudence and said it would not be Warwickshire. He also said that the media and not the ECB runs English cricket!
Chris Tickle then took the podium to explain some of the rule changes and was at pains to point out that most of the changes were to add a practical and flexible approach to the management and day-to-day running of the club. He did also mention one thing that struck me, but was hidden away somewhat, and that was the potential for the club to operate through other structures, such as subsidiaries and joint ventures. This got me thinking about whether they plan to involve a joint venture in the building of the new stadium.
While the votes were counted Ashley Giles gave a speech on the upcoming season that was quote-a-rific. He appeared relaxed and was his usual candid self, but there did seem to be a bit of nervousness about him. He began in typical Giles fashion; "I'm not perfect, I make mistakes and I'm sure I'll make some this summer."
He went onto say, "the team had been slack in some areas over the past 2 years and in some basic disciplines". "Hard work is key..I want this to be the fittest team in the country..and have already seen a big change in attitude and fitness". He stated his belief that hard work and success will bring enjoyment back into the team and the supporters.
On the season's targets he said; "we want to get back to where we belong, we are aiming to get back into the top flight this year..I can't promise this will happen but it is the aim". He finished by assuring members that his England selectors job is subordinate to his role at Edgbaston and will not get in the way.
Colin Povey then finished up the speeches for the evening in his usual style. He has the ability to not be especially boring but talks in such a way that you find yourself drifting off while talk of "value streams" and "partnerships" washes over you. I have to confess I was writing down notes, but fighting the urge to join the member next to me in having a quiet nap while he talked.
As I said I will wrap up his speech on the ground plans and the related bits the rest of the panel talked about in another post.
There was just time for some questions, including one insightful guy, who spoke for 5 minutes, where his only question, which he pointed out he felt he had asked at the members forum in November and hadn't been answered then (shock!) - 'when Dale Steyn was with us he took a lot of wickets, when he left we didn't take a lot of wickets. Did Colin Povey think that when Dale Steyn left we stopped taking wickets and were not as good?' Now I might not have got all the nuances in this Machiavellian logic train, so apologies from my clumsy treatment of such an insight. I don't like Povey but he could have beat this man to death with a microphone and claimed the hand of Darwin.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Full AGM Report
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
AGM
I've been pondering what my position should be in regards to the AGM and specifically the special resolution to amend the club constitution which will be put to the vote at it. Its a tough choice and I think George Dobell in the Post has summed it up pretty well as a hobson's choice.
The clause in question in the "new rules" is 3.2.2. If I am reading it right it gives the club the ability to take out up to £20m of debt at an interest rate of no more that base rate +3% for unsecured debt (or such greater sum or rate as the committee shall determine from time to time). I believe (but I am no legal expert) that the committee would have to amend the rules again, if they want to go above the £20m limit, and that that particular note about "or such greater sum.." only gives them the power to easily do so.
The clause in itself is neither unusual or anything particularly untoward, the only issue that arises is whether the membership trusts the current administration with these extra powers. I think for the sake of the future of the club as one of the premier international grounds on the county circuit the membership will have to vote for this amendment. I don't necessarily believe the scare stories that Edgbaston is currently in danger of losing international cricket altogether, however I do feel the ground needs improvement and the increase in borrowing power is probably vital to achieve this.
Given the way that voting works on this amendment, in that a 2/3 majority is needed to carry the motion, (with abstentions not counting towards the total number of votes) means the only realistic way the motion will not be carried is by an organised campaign against it. I have not heard of such a campaign and I don't believe that any last minute rallying call at the meeting itself could succeed; most people will have made their minds up before attending.
In a way the timing of the AGM could not have been better for the management. The events of last season and the ill will they generated among the members has been partially swept away by the optimism of a new coaching team. We have also not seen how this new set-up will deliver, so members are still in a sort of extended honeymoon period. The new season is also just around the corner and people are probably believing anything is possible. I would venture a guess that the overall "morale" among members is probably higher than it has been for 6-9 months. And this is good news for the chance of the motion passing.
The concern must remain however that the current leadership team at Edgbaston has not really delivered demonstrable success in anything it has tried to achieve so far, and the thought of £20m of debt is something none of the members will feel especially comfortable about. The voting decision remains one where there is no comfortable path for the members, faced with either slow decline or a gamble on the financial prudence of Mr Povey and his team, neither of which is especially appealing. Perhaps I am cautious having spoken to a friend who visited Elland Road at the weekend and reported on a crumbling stadium where they cannot afford to turn on the electronic scoreboard. I think however we have to make a leap of faith.
The Raggybear will either be voting "yes" or abstaining. I will not be voting against this motion as I do not believe that my vote would then be in the best interests of the club.
I am hopeful of attending the meeting in person, although I have a meeting in London, so will be in the unusual position of wearing a suit. I hope people don't mistake me for a member of the executive club.
Friday, 1 February 2008
Pre-Season tour cancelled
Firstly before I comment on this news it is worth saying that Colin Povey has recommended any supporters who have booked trips to Grenada with the intention of watching the team should contact him without delay.
Now onto some thoughts. This is being portrayed by the club as a cricketing decision, based on the fact that the players did not perform last season, so do not deserve an overseas jaunt as a "reward" before they have earned it. It is possibly signs of a harder line being taken by the club. It has also been stated by the club that it is nothing to do with the record financial loss last year, or the upcoming need to finance the ground development. Although when the trip was planned quite a while ago and was planning to depart on 13th March, it seems a strange time to make the decision. It is also worth pointing out that Giles himself announced the plans for this tour back in November, this is not a hang over from the old regime. So I am not sure we can say it is signs of a harder line to plan a preseason tour 8 weeks after the team have performed dismally, only to cancel it 8 weeks before they are due to fly out.
However I have two points to make, firstly that I feel it is shocking that the Birmingham Post and a part-time blog are ahead of the club's website on news of this magnitude for supporters who may have booked to travel abroad. This is another example of poor communication on the part of the club. There is nothing at all on the official site.
Secondly (and you may know I love a good conspiracy theory), I have found an article on the club website from earlier in January stating "..if you want to take either of these trips [to Belfast or Grenada] with the Bears this season we will need payment and details by the closing date of Friday 25th January. To secure your places please email David Bunce by the date above. Obviously if we do not reach the minimum number of passengers the tours will have to be cancelled. The players would love your support so book now and travel in style with the Bears".
Now it seems to me a very big coincedence that the week following the deadline where they are saying if they don't have enough people signing up to the supporter packages they will have to cancel the supporter tour, they have in fact cancelled the entire tour.
I guess the last thing to say that is although the players will not be going to Grenada with the club, the following have all been away playing cricket (that I know of) this winter:
Bell (England - Sri Lanka & New Zealand), Trott (Lions - India), Ambrose (England - New Zealand), Maddy (Hong Kong Sixes, ICL), Zondeki (South Africa - he lives there!), Macleod & Miller (Australia Grade Cricket), Rankin (ICL), Woakes (England U-19, Sri Lanka, Malaysia). I'm not saying any of these players haven't deserved these trips at all, but we must be careful not be make the mistake of assuming by cancelling the tour the club have condemned all its players to a full rainy offseason in the West Midlands!
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Chairman of Cricket Committee Quits
John Claughton, the chairman of the cricket committee of Warwickshire, quit at the end of last week. I have mixed feelings about it as I write this piece. On the one hand I feel very happy that a person who was clearly not suited to the job has left. I remember vividly his performance at the watershed members forum in September, when he insisted the club was making progress and looked stunned and somewhat lost as his statements were greeted with howls of derision and heckling. He was involved fairly strongly in the (in hindsight) disastrous appointment of Mark Greatbatch and seemed blind to the coach and team's failings throughout last season.
On the other hand I feel somewhat sorry that an individual in a voluntary position has clearly had a rough ride and has had to quit a role at a club he seems to care for.
I would say that although being a volunteer, the chairman of cricket cannot be held to account in the same way as say a chief executive or coach, who are handsomely rewarded for delivering success and therefore have a right to expect to cop flak when they fail to deliver that which they are paid for. However being a volunteer in itself is no defence against receiving criticism for doing a poor job. Equally where a voluntary position affects others, those with a vested interest have a right to expect at the least competence from the individual in question.
I think the criticism he received at the members forum in September was disproportionate, and my general feelings about that meeting are documented elsewhere in this blog. I feel he should have expected some criticism, but the manner in which some members expressed their feelings at that meeting bordered on disgraceful and I can therefore understand how he could then feel he had to resign in order to preserve his reputation at large.
It is a shame that he ended his tenure on quite such a sour note. I feel that he probably should have gone following the results last season, so the outcome is correct. However it is a disappointment that his end had to come about in fairly acrimonious circumstances. I think there are some people who were responsible for some of the more confrontation behaviour at the forum who have no reason to feel proud at having forced Claughton out in such a way.
Sunday, 25 November 2007
A quiet month?
I have to confess to not keeping this blog as up to date as I might since the Loudon retirement. Rest assured that I was not so broken by the news that I found myself unable to continue writing the blog, it was merely that will no England cricket tours going on it is hard to stay focused on the goings on at Edgbaston.
The big issues of the past month are the confirmation that Dougie Brown is going to be involved in the coaching set-up as the academy director, which is a good bit of news. I'm not sure whether he is any good as a coach or not, but quite frankly he should be kept at Edgbaston even if he's pretty useless at everything post-playing; they could just build him a little flat in the prioy stand and he could live there with Dermot.
Ian Salisbury has to be a fairly big punt as a signing, I can't see him playing every game and he didn't have a fantastic year last year. It looks as though we'll be better off with out fancy boy Van Jaarsveld who has decided that he does like South Africa after all and seems to have refused to come back. He seems such a mercurial character that I'm not sure he will go on to develop into much anyway, he certainly seems to have a fairly good idea of his own worth and at the time of writing is reported as refusing to answer calls from Warwickshire.
Finally the membership prices have gone up for this year and may well price a few people out. I for one will have to very carefully decide whether to renew my membership. As new school cricket administrators are fond of labouring, cricket is a "product" and quite frankly that product was overpriced in its last offering to the marketplace, and your correspondent found it personally just about the same in price as individual tickets for last season. For myself and the missus it will involve going to two more games to "make our money back". Combined we will have to attend at least 20 days of cricket next year. As we both have full time jobs we may well not renew our membership and keep some flexibility about when we pay and when we don't.
Oh, and I have updated the playing squad post below with all the new news.
Friday, 28 September 2007
All Change
Well, I go away on holiday for a couple of weeks and everything changes.
There is no doubt that Mark Greatbatch was no longer the right person to lead the team, if he ever was, and his departure is a blessed relief for almost all Warwickshire fans. Colin Povey has taken a brave decision in appointing Ashley Giles as director of cricket, given that he has virtually no qualifications, or experience of coaching at the highest level. It also seems slightly odd that only a few months ago Ashley was trying to forge a fledgling career in broadcasting. There is also a nagging doubt that Povey has gone for the popular choice to boost his own stock with supporters, rather than risk a prolonged hunt for a more qualified applicant. He may also have felt the pressure coming from the bungled attempts to land several players and felt a long application process could have led to more embarrassment as various coaches indicated they weren't interested. But of course this is all speculation.
Having said all this, I am of the opinion that Giles has never done anything without putting all his dedication into it, and I feel he has the professionalism and love for the club to make up for his lack of experience. I hope he'll be as great a success as a coach for Warwickshire as he was as a player. He has given a typically candid interview to the BBC, that can be watched here.
Today Warwickshire have announced an really big coup in landing Allan Donald as first team bowling coach. His exact role has not been clarified, but there is speculation that he will have a much wider brief than with England. Possibly being responsible for scouting as well as developing talent in the second team. Where Giles' appointment is a bit of a leap into the unknown, Donald is already a proven performer as a coach at international level and I can only hope he will have the same impact at Warwickshire as he had with England. With the likes of Anyon, Woakes, Daggett, Gronewald and Tahir the raw materials are there and the hope is that AD can mould them into consistent performers.
Although the season is barely over there is already cause for some optimism for next season. The next step will be for Warwickshire to land a quality overseas player who is available for the majority of the season. As well as someone with experience to take care of the batting side of the coaching, alongside Neil Abberley, who although an excellent coach, can surely not shoulder the whole batting coaching on his own.
Finally today the groups have been announced for the re-re-vamped one-day cup. Warwickshire are in "Midlands and East"; with Ireland. Make of that what you will.