FTECB in the sh!t

More sh*t.

Glamorgan have admitted to receiving £2.5 million from the England & Wales Cricket Board in return for not bidding for Test cricket between 2020-2024.
Glamorgan revealed the payment in their annual accounts released two weeks after an ECB board member resigned over compensation paid to counties for not hosting Test matches.


FTECB. After what they did to Durham ........
Beefy needs to get the Legal people onto this. Pure fraud
 


LegsideLizzy on Twitter:

"Well well well. You know I wrote that Glamorgan had had £1 million - turns out it’s £2.5 million and it was for not bidding for Tests as we reported. Not for paying off a creditor as the ECB seem to have claimed"


FTECB.
Murkier than a murky thing from deepest darkest Murk Town.
 
As its behind a paywall here are some of the interesting bits from the article linked above. It makes the decision to strip Durham of test status even more outrageous, with the tests we were given I'd have thought we would have been lucky to make any profit never mind half a million.

'The Times
understands that the £500,000 figure is the amount that has been promised to a number of other Test grounds, meaning that Headingley will receive £1 million, Old Trafford will receive £500,000 and Southampton will also receive £2.5 million.

The ECB has told executives from other counties, who were understood to be shocked and outraged at these payments, that any future compensation to counties will be discussed and agreed by the board.

However, legal advice obtained by some of the smaller counties indicates that these payments could be unlawful because they contravene the ECB’s constitution, which states that all of their members must be treated equally and that payments made to members should be in return for the delivery of a service or competition.

It could be argued, the legal advice states, that these compensation payments are ex gratia and therefore could be deemed unlawful.'

'The revelations have raised significant concerns among the non-Test counties that the eight grounds hosting the new T20 competition will become “super-grounds” receiving significantly more income from the ECB than the rest.

The competition was sold to them on the basis that new revenue from 2020, when the city-based competition is launched, would be distributed evenly among the 18 counties and MCC.'
 
The Chairman's EGM was supposed to take place yesterday - anyone got any contacts that might be able to tell us what happened? Is Beefy on here?Nothing on the ECB official site, quelle surprise!
 
Cheers @Parkside

Mmmmm! Graves suddenly produces minutes of a Board tele conference that previously no-one could remember and couldn't find in their copies of minutes? Mmmmm! They can say : "At the time, the ECB board were reflecting on the arrangement made with Durham - they were given help with their financial problems in return for surrendering their aspirations to host more Test cricket for the foreseeable future - but Graves was recorded to have said he wanted to use the idea "as a template going forward for any counties that find themselves in a similar situation". The minutes say the ECB board "unanimously agreed" the proposal."

The 'arrangement' with Durham was to virtually destroy the club by penalising it in every conceivable way, yet this 'template' now rewards other clubs for being in a similar position with no penalties whatsoever!!! FFS talk abut the victor writing history!
 
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Another ECB Director resigns in protest. This time Richard Thompson of Surrey (I've always said that Surrey were a fantastic county ;) )
Second ECB board director quits in protest

I don't have access so I can't post any text.

Fair play to him, it should also be highlighted once more that Surrey were AGAINST franchise T20, even though they would benefit largely from it.

I have my doubts over the true reasoning mind, maybe they don't want other counties getting similar wealth to what they already enjoy, but all the same it's a valid fact, they opposed it.

Anyone with a Times sub able to copy and paste the article?
 
The chairman of Surrey, Richard Thompson, has resigned as a director on the ECB board with immediate effect over a £2.5 million compensation payment made to Glamorgan, and his broader concerns about the lack of transparency in decision-making and failings of corporate governance.

It is the second high-profile resignation this month after Andy Nash, the former Somerset chairman, stood down three weeks ago, saying publicly that standards of governance within the ECB had fallen “well short of what’s acceptable”.

This is a significant development because Surrey are a key partner for the ECB because of their size and wealth, and because the Kia Oval is a major venue both for international cricket and the new eight-team Twenty20 competition to be introduced in 2020.

It is understood that Thompson informed Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, yesterday of his immediate resignation, also citing his grave concerns about failures of governance and lack of transparency within the ECB as well as his belief that, in making a compensation payment to Glamorgan, it had contravened its own articles of association.

Thompson is a popular figure in county cricket, having won two elections among county chairmen to be the representative of the Test-match grounds on the ECB board.

Surrey have consistently argued that any decisions taken about the future of the game must be in the interests of all 18 first-class counties, not just the eight Test grounds, and while Thompson’s resignation means that the voice of the counties will no longer be represented on the ECB board as they bring in more independent directors, it is likely that he will continue to oppose openly any decisions that have a negative impact on the county game.

There has been increasing pressure on Graves about the lack of transparency regarding key decisions within the ECB after revelations in The Times that Glamorgan received compensation in return for not bidding to host Test matches, and that other Test grounds had been promised £500,000 payments for each year they were not allocated Tests between 2020 and 2024. Other counties were not aware of the payments, and Nash said they had not been agreed or sanctioned by the board.

After the reports in The Times, the first-class chairmen, plus MCC, asked for an emergency meeting with the ECB, which was held yesterday at Lord’s. One county told The Times the meeting was “very heated” and some counties had been extremely critical of the ECB’s lack of transparency and communication, and asked for an independent inquiry into the payments to Test-match grounds. This request was turned down by the ECB.

It is understood that Thompson’s grievances were raised directly to Graves in the chairmen’s meeting on Monday. They included the failure to inform all counties about the compensation payments, a consistent lack of transparency around decision-making, and a failure by Graves to inform the board members of his intention to take expensive and lengthy legal action, using ECB money, against a media organisation.

During Monday’s meeting, Thompson and others said the payment made to Glamorgan last year could be unlawful as it contravened the ECB’s articles of association, which state that the counties must be treated equally and that payments to counties must be in return for delivery of a service or competition, rather than being paid not to host something. He said this apparent contravention of the ECB’s constitution was the main reason for his resignation.
 
The chairman of Surrey, Richard Thompson, has resigned as a director on the ECB board with immediate effect over a £2.5 million compensation payment made to Glamorgan, and his broader concerns about the lack of transparency in decision-making and failings of corporate governance.

It is the second high-profile resignation this month after Andy Nash, the former Somerset chairman, stood down three weeks ago, saying publicly that standards of governance within the ECB had fallen “well short of what’s acceptable”.

This is a significant development because Surrey are a key partner for the ECB because of their size and wealth, and because the Kia Oval is a major venue both for international cricket and the new eight-team Twenty20 competition to be introduced in 2020.

It is understood that Thompson informed Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, yesterday of his immediate resignation, also citing his grave concerns about failures of governance and lack of transparency within the ECB as well as his belief that, in making a compensation payment to Glamorgan, it had contravened its own articles of association.

Thompson is a popular figure in county cricket, having won two elections among county chairmen to be the representative of the Test-match grounds on the ECB board.

Surrey have consistently argued that any decisions taken about the future of the game must be in the interests of all 18 first-class counties, not just the eight Test grounds, and while Thompson’s resignation means that the voice of the counties will no longer be represented on the ECB board as they bring in more independent directors, it is likely that he will continue to oppose openly any decisions that have a negative impact on the county game.

There has been increasing pressure on Graves about the lack of transparency regarding key decisions within the ECB after revelations in The Times that Glamorgan received compensation in return for not bidding to host Test matches, and that other Test grounds had been promised £500,000 payments for each year they were not allocated Tests between 2020 and 2024. Other counties were not aware of the payments, and Nash said they had not been agreed or sanctioned by the board.

After the reports in The Times, the first-class chairmen, plus MCC, asked for an emergency meeting with the ECB, which was held yesterday at Lord’s. One county told The Times the meeting was “very heated” and some counties had been extremely critical of the ECB’s lack of transparency and communication, and asked for an independent inquiry into the payments to Test-match grounds. This request was turned down by the ECB.

It is understood that Thompson’s grievances were raised directly to Graves in the chairmen’s meeting on Monday. They included the failure to inform all counties about the compensation payments, a consistent lack of transparency around decision-making, and a failure by Graves to inform the board members of his intention to take expensive and lengthy legal action, using ECB money, against a media organisation.

During Monday’s meeting, Thompson and others said the payment made to Glamorgan last year could be unlawful as it contravened the ECB’s articles of association, which state that the counties must be treated equally and that payments to counties must be in return for delivery of a service or competition, rather than being paid not to host something. He said this apparent contravention of the ECB’s constitution was the main reason for his resignation.

Absolutely disgusting that the members asked for an independent inquiry yet the ECB turned it down. f***ing disgrace. They'll be over the moon that the Aussie ball-tampering story is taking focus away from this.

Biggest worry for me here now though, is that clearly a few good men have resigned, so there will be even fewer checks and balances carried out now (one would assume).

Who replaces these gentlemen? A load of Graves' own yes men? That will be to the absolute detriment of the counties - so what in short seems like good news could end up being far from it if those with integrity are resigning.

It's going to be an absolute ECB whitewash :neutral:
 
Absolutely disgusting that the members asked for an independent inquiry yet the ECB turned it down. f***ing disgrace. They'll be over the moon that the Aussie ball-tampering story is taking focus away from this.

Biggest worry for me here now though, is that clearly a few good men have resigned, so there will be even fewer checks and balances carried out now (one would assume).

Who replaces these gentlemen? A load of Graves' own yes men? That will be to the absolute detriment of the counties - so what in short seems like good news could end up being far from it if those with integrity are resigning.

It's going to be an absolute ECB whitewash :neutral:
I think it's going to depend if anyone would start legal action against them. Even if they do it might just end with a settlement and maybe force an 'independent' enquiry.
 

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