Here is the text of an email sent 2/3/22 to YCCC members; I have checked its authenticity.
It makes for staggering reading, not least that you would not be allowed to run a village team in this manner. But just how many of the mainstream media will be brave enough to publish?
As I have written previously, only one narrative is being allowed here.
A lot has happened to our great Cricket Club in the last three months and we, the undersigned, felt that many of you may not be fully in the picture. We hope you will appreciate the following update.
Lord Patel (LP) was placed with the Club by the ECB with a brief to run it as its Chairman, on Friday 3rd November, after Roger Hutton had resigned as Chairman, at a Board Meeting that day. On his first day in office on Sunday 5th November, LP spent that afternoon with Azeem Rafiq discussing his racism claim against our Club. Some hours later, and without advice from the Club’s solicitors, LP agreed a one off compensation payment of £200,000!! This was very much greater than the maximum he could have recovered through litigation.
In the following weeks first Mark Arthur, CEO, and then Martyn Moxon, Director of Cricket (after a period of sick leave in his case) both received severance payments. On Friday 2nd December LP sacked 14 people by email (not in person), all seemingly selected because they had earlier signed a letter pleading for help from the previous board. The 14 members included the ENTIRE coaching team along with medical and support staff. Liz Neto, P.A. to the Club Chairman and CEO for the previous 16 years, was also sacked on the same day!
It is estimated that the total cost of LP’s salary, plus payments to Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon and to the 15 sacked members of staff, is likely to be in the region of £3 million! Legal opinion suggests that all staff members will win their cases against the Club for wrongful/unfair dismissal!
{Last filed accounts – 31/12/20 – show the club had cash reserves of £3.9m and total debt of £18.7m}
By now Paul Hudson (PH), previously Company Secretary, had become acting CEO, and he joined LP, Darren Gough (DG), Barry O’Brien (acting ECB Chairman), and Martin Darlow (ECB board member), at an informal members meeting on Saturday 22nd January at Headingley, with the Press deliberately excluded. LP opened the meeting by giving a 25 minute explanation of what he had done since he arrived and how he had worked 16 to 18 hours a day.
DG lifted the members’ spirits during his speech about his recruitment progress. Finally MD told the Members that unless they voted for the new rule changes that were to be proposed at an EGM on 2nd February, it was very unlikely that Yorkshire would get the Test Match against New Zealand and the ODI against South Africa; in other words BLACKMAIL!
Two of the undersigned attended this members’ meeting and were horrified at the blatant bullying of our Members to vote for the rule changes.
On 29th January two members became aware that LP had not been a member of Yorkshire for the previous two years, which prohibited him becoming a board member and from taking the chair. Robin Smith wrote to LP & PH on the same day and pointed out this fact, adding that the Club had also failed to inform the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) of rule changes following both the 2020 AGM and the 2021 AGM. This meant that the forthcoming EGM was invalid! No reply was received from LP nor from PH, but they clearly accepted Robin’s advice because they admitted their error to the FCA, and, at 8:01 on the morning of the meeting, informed members by email that the meeting was cancelled!
Ten days later LP & PH called a second EGM for Monday 14th March, in which they proposed 8 non-executive Members to the board, who MUST NOT be members of our Club! As if that was not enough, it has now been established that LP is being paid by the Club for his services! His salary is understood to be £200,000 p.a. This is the first time in the Club’s 159 year history that a Chairman has received a salary. The current rules clearly state in rule 21.6 that board members cannot receive payment!
The proposed amendments to the Rules for voting on the 14th March give the Board control to non-members , by legislating for 8 “independent” (i.e. non-member) non-executive board members, with just two member board members and two executives ( the CEO and the Director of Cricket). The proposals effectively transfer control of the Club and its assets to outsiders!
It is clear that these proposals contravene the registration requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority. In short, the FCA cannot and will not register rule changes which provide for control to be by non-members. This is because YCCC is a co-operative society in law; all co-operative societies must operate under members’ democratic control. So, yet again the Club was being taken down an unlawful route as a result of LP’s incompetence. It seems that neither he nor his advisers know that YCCC is a co-operative society!
For these reasons we respectively ask you to vote against the all the rule changes on 14th March either by email or in person at the meeting. It is our intention to use the media to explain just how many HLM & VP’s are against the Club’s current management, although we shall not mention names.”
I have removed the three signatories details.
Jms says
It beggars belief, compensation for allegations but nothing proven, sackings with no justification or evidence and then not following basic legal requirements, & they want the support of the members