Durham have been relegated from Division One of the County Championship over financial issues, with Hampshire being reinstated.
The North East county have also lost the right to stage Test cricket at their Riverside ground.
Durham have accepted a £3.8m financial aid package, which has been approved by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
They will start next season in Division Two with a 48-point deduction.
Durham will also face a four-point penalty in the 2017 T20 Blast and a two-point deduction in the One-Day Cup.
It is a sorry state of affairs when you consider the disgusting amounts of money sloshing around in football. This £3.8m bailout package is less than many PL,footballers are paid in a single year. Durham also appear to be letting players leave to alleviate salary pressure, and have now lost the right to host Test Matches.
More here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/37541136
Durham relegated
posted on 3/10/16
Haven't they already got next years ashes though?
posted on 3/10/16
dodge viper
posted on 3/10/16
Can't understand how supposed clever people who run these clubs can get into this state?
They surely know how much the wages of all staff are per annum and will have some idea of income, so why give players big contracts if they can't afford to pay them?
Maybe they worked in HM Treasury in a former life and are used to borrowing £millions without ever having to worry about paying it back?
posted on 3/10/16
Haven't read the article but seen somewhere that the ecb refused a purchase by a consortium of 4mill or so? Did they do that just so they could have Durham over a barrel? Dnt get why they wouldn't have let that go through if the county cuould have been saved that way
Sad thing is though I've been to a few county games this year(sating in Notts)and the crowds are quite sad really, when you can muster up less than a 1000 people for a stadium that holds 17k plus the product just doesn't look good, the odi and the t20 crowds help but what can you do to change the county game?
posted on 3/10/16
comment by ScouseRam (U9675)
posted 20 minutes ago
Can't understand how supposed clever people who run these clubs can get into this state?
They surely know how much the wages of all staff are per annum and will have some idea of income, so why give players big contracts if they can't afford to pay them?
Maybe they worked in HM Treasury in a former life and are used to borrowing £millions without ever having to worry about paying it back?
_____________\
As a current HM treasury employee I can confirm we are not all like that..