There have been some trying times for Leicestershire in the last couple of years but this week has been a particularly tough one to take – on and off the pitch – and something has to change.
Not only have the club lost again in the Championship, a thumping at Hampshire, two more academy graduates are on their way out and more could follow. The move of all-rounder Shiv Thakor to Derbyshire is particularly tough to take for anyone who cares passionately about Leicestershire CCC – as I do.
Shiv is one of the brightest talents in the game for me and will go on to play for England. I don’t think the club have done enough to keep him. After a difficult start to the season with his finger injury nothing has really gone right this season.
He had been given a deadline to sign his contract and when that passed he somehow found himself batting at seven or eight in the 2nd XI. As a former player and with so much uncertainty around the playing squad for next season he was perfectly entitled to see what was going to happen.
And it looks as if there’s going to be an almighty clearout over the winter with the majority of the squad out of contract. Anthony Ireland has not been offered a new deal –a strange decision from the outside – Nathan Buck appears to be off to Lancashire and the futures of Ned Eckersley and Josh Cobb are far from clear.
Shiv’s moves to Derbyshire might look a sideways step to some but it’s nothing of the sort. Derbyshire are a progressive club with an ambitious chairman in Chris Grant who has achieved a lot in business and is bringing it to his club now.
They’ve had a recent taste of Division One cricket and they are putting a coaching structure in place with Graeme Welch at the top of it. He was probably expected to join one of the bigger clubs in the country but at Derbyshire he will get the chance to bat top four or five and bowl plenty of overs with his more than handy medium pace.
In an ambitious environment where he will be encouraged to make the most of himself and push for England honours this could prove a shrewd move for Shiv. If he can fulfil his potential then Derbyshire and England will have a special player on their hands.
Unfortunately it’s another example of Leicestershire producing a fine young player who walks off to another county just as Stuart Broad, James Taylor and Harry Gurney have done. As a club we should, and I say ‘we’ because I still care passionately about the place, be producing these players to wear the LCCC shirt for their careers.
It’s not too long ago I was part of teams winning Championships and t20 titles. But now we’ve fallen so far behind and that’s why I’d take drastic action. The first step would be to make a bold move to sell Grace Road and make a fresh start elsewhere as Hampshire and Durham have.
Grace Road is in prime development land and Leicester is a city undergoing a huge regeneration and there could easily be a place found to house the club and develop on and off the pitch. That view will upset some people but it has to be seriously explored.
This city, where I still live, is a hotbed of sport with Leicester City back in the Premier League and the Tigers still a dominant force in the Aviva Premiership but the cricket club are being left behind. It’s also a beacon of a city where every nationality, creed and colour live together brilliantly and that isn’t being tapped into.
Whoever the new chief executive is going to be they have one hell of a challenge in front of them to arrest this slide.
Interesting suggestion, but not a feasible option for the long-term future of the club.
Durham and Hampshire both had the benefit of substantial external investment for the construction of their grounds. There is little prospect of Leicestershire securing similar funding in the event of a move.
In addition, there are no suitable, accessible sites currently available within the city boundaries. Although Loughborough is a potential alternative venue, relocating there would alienate the majority of the county’s membership and fan base.