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When an institution collapses into civil war it is, perhaps, wise to seek the view of an outsider if attempting to identify where the blame lies.
‘Lancashire?’ a board member at a rival county tells me, ‘that’s the events-hosting business with the s**t work’s cricket team attached to it, isn’t it?’ The executive in question is not from Yorkshire but he is only half-joking.
At this early stage I will declare a depth of feeling and perhaps the possibility of over-emotion because this is my county and, in the words of Manchester band James, if I hadn’t seen such riches I could live with being poor.
But few would argue with this statement: Lancashire, proud Lancashire, are currently an absolute laughing stock. Consider this as they face up to arguably their worst season in 162 years of existence: in their last nine County Championship innings – over a pathetic run stretching back to June – the Red Rose have failed to post a score of 200 runs or more.
When they last scored 300 we were in April, wondering if we were in for a decent summer and yet to welcome a Lancashire supporter to No 10.
That, sadly, is not the least of it on a depressing charge sheet as long as Brian Statham Way. A club that should not be in the Second Division, let alone in grave danger of propping the rest of it up, have now lost eight of their last 10 matches and a shameful first wooden spoon is a distinct possibility.
As for the white-ball efforts, Lancs failed to make it out of the group stages of the Vitality Blast and fell at the Metro Bank One-Day Cup quarter-finals, with a team admittedly decimated by call-ups to the Hundred. The women’s side finished bottom of the Blast ladder. They also failed to make the One-Day Cup knockout stages.
Clouds have been gathering over Lancashire and Old Trafford for some time with the team struggling in Division Two of the County Championship
Sir James Anderson has been one ray of sushine with 50 Championship wickets this season
All that is left now, in this Pendle Witch of a year, is the battle to avoid bottom place. Although coming last would ensure at least that next year could not be worse.
In bad light, as there often is in these parts, there remain some rays of sunshine. Enduring humour is one. Amid widespread allegations that those charged with running Lancashire care only for the commercial side, one wag suggested they might now wish to consider a sponsorship deal with a well known pizza delivery firm after 81 for 0 turned into 161 all out during the latest forlorn tale at Canterbury.
The wickets tumbled at such a rate that the club’s own X account appeared to fail to keep up and stopped posting each time one fell. Speaking of social media, earlier this week the 15th anniversary of Lancs’ last County Championship Division One triumph came and went without any mention.
Perhaps they were, understandably, wary of the comments such a post would trigger from a fanbase that is up in arms.
What was posted during the carnage, presumably at the request of the tone deaf powers-that-be, was an advert enticing punters to ‘watch our 2027 major matches @EmiratesOT in style’ accompanied by a video tour of one of the ground’s hotel rooms with a panoramic view of the field of misery.
Some joked that you’d only need to stay for one night to watch a County Championship match, while others pleaded – with some irony – for them to ‘read the room’. ‘This is why you’re stuck in Division Two – it’s always money over cricket,' one added.
That final observation is one that has been shared many times to Daily Mail Sport for this report. And it is one that appears to carry considerable weight. Lancashire, put simply, are a cricket club that have lost sight of what being a cricket club entails.
A name is often offered when you ask those inside and outside the club who is behind this perceived relegation of sport: Daniel Gidney.
The 14-year chief executive is the prime suspect in this crime against cricket. He will leave at the end of the season and may well point to a club not far away from going bust when he arrived to one in a redeveloped ground (albeit an aesthetically underwhelming one) with an extended hotel and top-tier conferencing facilities that have transformed how they generate revenue, and how much revenue they generate.
He may also make the valid point that a cricket club cannot survive on cricket alone and he would be right to do so. But there is no need for one to suffer at the hands of the other, and it is hard to make an argument that this is not what we have witnessed.
Old Trafford has an extended hotel and top-tier conferencing facilities that have transformed how Lancashire generate revenue
But chief executive Daniel Gidney (right), pictured with Mike Atherton and Anderson, has been accused of putting commercial interests ahead of cricketing ones
‘The core business – whether Gidney likes it or not – is cricket,’ explains one well-placed source. ‘The clue is in the name, Lancashire County Cricket Club. Cricket has been neglected. You need business and finance, absolutely, but you must never lose track of the fact that you have to win cricket matches.’
In what is a small but perhaps telling anecdote, one source discloses that current coach Steven Croft got a glimpse of the priority not long after taking the reins.
Ahead of the season the playing staff, the story goes, wanted to go to Spain’s Desert Springs, with its state-of-the-art, warm-weather cricket facilities, with staple Dubai out of the question due to the conflict in the Middle East.
‘The chief executive was resistant,’ the source recalls. ‘He said that there was no commercial value in going to Spain and suggested they should go to India because of the tie-up with Emirates Airlines and the Manchester Super Giants franchise (which is now Indian owned). They eventually ended up in Spain but it spoke volumes about what was important.’
Another gripe among some of the members is the addition of a new, first-team ground at Farington, on the rural outskirts of Preston. Some see it as an attempt to take more cricket away from Old Trafford and free it up for more concerts (although those have been banned by the local council since a member of the public was injured at a Red Hot Chili Peppers gig in 2022).
‘It’s c**p,’ says one member, bluntly, after it made its bow this summer. ‘Middle of nowhere, no shelter, basic facilities. Give me Blackpool, Southport and Liverpool any day.’
It would appear that some in the dressing room share that feeling, amid a bemusing allegation that players and coaching staff were not consulted over the designs for the site.
Club officials say that director of cricket Mark Chilton was involved in the planning, improvements are on the way, and add that they believe the facility is the envy of many other counties, with Surrey looking at following suit.
Perhaps in a nod to the old saying that while success has many fathers, failure is an orphan, it was difficult to get a straight answer to the next question. But if the assumption is that the director of cricket performance directs the cricket performance then it has to be assumed that Chilton was responsible for a managerial decision so staggeringly stupid that it would even make the folks at the other Old Trafford wince.
It was in 2023, when someone saw fit to make Dale Benkenstein the men’s first-team head coach. The South African had taken over at Gloucestershire in late 2021 and in 2022 promptly guided them to bottom of Division One. He repeated the trick in 2023, with Gloucester failing to win a single one of their 14 matches in Division Two. And then he got the Lancashire job.
‘It’s c**p,’ says one member of the new outground Farington, after it made its bow this summer. ‘Middle of nowhere, no shelter, basic facilities'
Dale Benkenstein led Gloucestershire to bottom of Division One in 2022 and repeated the trick in Division Two, with his side failing to win a single match. And then he got the Lancashire job
‘With no disrespect to Gloucester, in football terms it was like finding someone who had failed in League Two and giving them the Manchester United job,’ one onlooker comments.
Benkenstein did, at least, manage to avoid a hat-trick of bottom-placed finishes in his first season at Old Trafford. Instead, he led Lancashire to second bottom and relegation.
In his second season, he was finally shown the door after a winless first two months, leaving many asking what on earth those in charge thought was going to happen when they made the appointment. Chilton, a former Lancashire player, turned to Croft, a former Lancashire player.
On the subject of appointments, Dame Sarah Storey arrived as chair late last summer, installed by the board, to replace the outgoing former Manchester United and British Olympic Association executive, Andy Anson.
Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian of all-time did not create this firestorm, but according to some she has done little to extinguish the flames.
On day two of the season opener at Northampton, all the players were told to gather on the field for an address from the 48-year-old Mancunian. Some wondered why they needed the address and why – if it was necessary – it had not taken place before now, and behind closed doors.
‘Then cameras started clicking and they all felt like they’d become part of some kind of self-promotional photo opportunity,’ says one insider.
Club officials insist the above description is misleading and that Storey, as she had done with the women’s team, had simply wandered out to the outfield to chat to players as they warmed up in her capacity as chair.
Storey’s decision to take part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing has done little to dampen concerns. While chair is an honorary position, given the disastrous state of the club it is safe to say that eyebrows have been raised at what may well be a time-consuming, alternative pursuit.
New head coach Steven Croft, a former Lancashire player, has done little to improve results
Dame Sarah Storey became the club's chair late last summer but her decision to take part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing has done little to dampen concerns around the place
It would also be wrong to alleviate the players from blame. This is not a story of under-investment, or of a county whose league position represents precisely where it sits with regards to money spent on wages.
There are those who are exempt, a small list that obviously includes Sir James Anderson, who continues to presumably put his 44-year-old body through torture and who has picked up 50 wickets in 11 games. But at some stage, despite a perceived lack of direction from above, it has to be accepted that this is a group which continues to grossly underperform.
The picture is one of a county that continues to punch itself in the face, and I had my own glimpse earlier this week.
On Wednesday, as the men’s first team limped to the latest surrender at Kent, I was due at the other Old Trafford, where Manchester United (speaking of limp surrenders), were hosting Brighton in the Carabao Cup. Given I was in the area, I thought I would nip into the Lancs club shop to pick up a couple of bits and show some token support, in these miserable times.
The car park is heaving and the place is a hive of activity. As it often is when United are at home, the hotel is sold out and they are preparing themselves for the arrival of the hundreds of corporate guests who are wined and dined before making the short journey to the football ground.
When I tell the fluorescent-jacketed stewards I am trying to get to the club shop, they look at me like they had never heard those words before. Eventually, a senior official comes over. They tell me that the club shop is closed and now only opens on matchdays. When I joke that this place used to be a cricket club they laugh, roll their eyes and add for good measure: ‘They’re idiots, aren’t they?’
When I make the point to a member, they say that Lancashire’s retail income last year was £57,000 compared to £382,000 the year before. ‘Watching the decline is bad enough,’ they say, ‘causing it and then congratulating yourself – that’s the real disgrace’.
There is, according to some, hope. If nothing else, things can hardly get worse – even if top-of-the-table Durham are up next.
Arav Shetty is bowled by Ollie Price against Gloucestershire back in April. Lancs have not reached 300 in a first-class innings since that month
The talented Rocky Flintoff, son of Andrew, provides a reason to be cheerful about the future
The county’s conveyor belt continues to churn out talented young cricketers, with great things hoped for Joe Moores and Rocky Flintoff, who have both been involved with England Lions this year. Whether they will remain with Lancashire, who have sadly developed a reputation for failing to develop talent, remains to be seen.
On one side of the civil war sits a group of club greats including David Lloyd and Paul Allott, big beasts who continue to lead the calls for change. The new chief executive, Richard Kenyon, is a Lancashire supporter who has widespread experience in the world of sport following a long stint at Everton. Kenyon heads west from Nottinghamshire, who are seeking back-to-back titles.
There have been positive arrivals to the board of late, and it is understood that Sir Clive Lloyd and Mike Watkinson will be heavily involved in an end of season review into what has gone wrong. It may take them some time to complete.
Membership numbers have, perhaps surprisingly or perhaps thanks to the introduction of cheaper five-day options in 2023, held up, with 6,364 at the last count. The widespread joking is a deflection tactic of a fanbase that still cares deeply.
And, perhaps above all else, the solution is also relatively simple, despite how hard the current regime is making it look. I ask the straight-talking member who described Farington as ‘c**p’ what needs to change. Again his response is sharp and to the point. ‘Just win some b****y cricket matches,’ he says.
