Yorkshire ready to appoint Gough as director of cricket

Cricket By Ben Rumsby SPORT INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER ⮞former England fast bowler could take £150,000 pay cut ⮞staff fired in wake of racism scandal plan group legal action

Yorkshire were last night on the brink of appointing Darren Gough as their new director of cricket.

The former England fast bowler, who spent 15 years at the club in two spells as a player, could even announce the news on his radio show today before being unveiled at Headingley on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old would need to take a huge pay cut – reportedly as much as £150,000 – to leave his role as a presenter at Talksport.

Gough (below) lives in Essex, and Yorkshire were said last night to be willing to offer him flexible working arrangements so he did not need to relocate his family to the north.

His appointment could be announced on the day Yorkshire’s sacked staff meet lawyers today to discuss taking legal action en masse against the club’s cull of their entire coaching team.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that all 16 of those fired in the wake of the racism scandal to engulf English cricket could be present for a lunchtime summit at a Leeds law firm, which appears certain to trigger a wave of wrongful or unfair dismissal claims.

The Telegraph has been told many of those involved are “ready to fight” after being sacked without warning on Friday morning before being refused leave to appeal against a decision that threatens to wreck careers.

There was a growing acceptance yesterday among the 16 that none of them had any chance of getting their job back, but there was a determination to force the club to retract a finding of “gross misconduct” against them, apologise, and compensate them accordingly.

A source close to one of those involved said: “You’ve got to save your reputation here because everyone thinks at the moment that those 16 people have gone because they’re racist. If that word’s next to you then you don’t get another job in the game. There’s no chance.”

Among the reasons the club gave staff for sacking them were that they had “been aware” of “derogatory and discriminatory language” while working there and had “failed to take steps to address that language and behaviour”.

Not all of those fired were at Yorkshire with Azeem Rafiq, whose complaint three years ago that he had been racially abused as a player there – a claim upheld by an investigation – was handled in a way their former chairman admitted amounted to institutional racism.

As well as sacking director of cricket Martyn Moxon and head coach Andrew Gale, Yorkshire fired signatories of a letter accusing their board of failing to stand up to Rafiq’s “one-man mission to bring down the club”.

Sent on Oct 14, the letter criticised Rafiq’s behaviour at the club and even expressed fury over an apology issued when it was revealed seven of his 43 abuse claims were proven.

The correspondence laid bare for the first time the “extreme hurt” of staff, who felt they and the county were facing unfair attacks. Their signing of the letter – which was marked “private and confidential” – was cited by Yorkshire as further evidence of their “gross misconduct”.

Yorkshire have also faced accusations Friday’s mass cull took place to ensure a ban was lifted on Headingley hosting lucrative and prestigious England matches amid fears they would otherwise

go bankrupt.