Baptism of fire for humbled Yorkshire chairman
ROGER HUTTON has been a board member of Yorkshire County Cricket Club for less than three weeks.
Since then, the county season has been suspended until at least May 28, the Yorkshire players have been put on furlough, and most of the club’s staff have been furloughed too.
The club is receiving one-quarter of its annual £3.5m distribution from the England and Wales Cricket Board up front to help with cash flow, and ECB chief executive Tom Harrison is warning that a summer lost to the coronavirus crisis could cost the game in this country around £300m, potentially bringing some clubs to their knees.
To say that Hutton has come to cricket in an official capacity at a challenging time is a bit like saying that Len Hutton, the famous Yorkshire and England batsman to whom he is distantly related, was a fairly good player.
Baptism of fire doesn’t tell the half of it.
So, any second thoughts? “No,” laughs a man whose election to the board paved the way for his appointment as club chairman last Friday in succession to Robin Smith.
“On the plus side, I think that I could be the chairman with the longest period of time with the club unbeaten.
“On a serious note, it’s clearly a tremendous shame for the game at the moment, and incredibly frustrating for our players and supporters.
“We’ve assembled a tremendous squad and we’re really ambitious to win on all fronts, so it’s just frustrating that we don’t yet know what we’re going to get to play and when.”
Hutton, 54, joint-managing partner at Leeds-based law firm Clarion, has a glass half-full attitide and is optimistic that we will get some cricket later this summer.
The man whose father was second cousin to Len Hutton is also quick to praise the ECB for its handling of a tough situation.
“The ECB are doing a tremendous job given all the uncertainty,” he said.
“They’re being very supportive of the counties as a whole and working hard to make sure that the game stays intact.
“Their challenge will get harder depending on how much cricket’s going to be played and when they have to select which sort of games have to be played.
“They will try and prioritise international matches and Twenty20 matches, I imagine, given the financial aspect, but, who knows, if we get back early enough, we may yet play in the County Championship.”
A keen Yorkshire fan since boyhood, Hutton is honoured to be chairman at a time when the club – the current crisis notwithstanding – has rarely, if ever, been in a more professional shape.
Yorkshire recently announced a record operating profit of £6.5m for 2019 and have a clear plan to whittle down debts accrued mostly through retaining international cricket in Leeds for years to come.
“We’ve got a sensational stadium; what the board and the club have done with the stadium, and thanks to Emerald, is ahead of a lot of its competition,” added Hutton.
“It’s probably the best stadium outside London.
“The staff at the club are really efficient, and we’ve also got a much leaner staff structure than some, which makes us more agile.
We’ve got very strong stakeholders and support, we had a sensationally good financial year last year, and our position compared to the vast majority of the counties is relatively strong.”
So, how did the chairmanship come about?
“I’d been involved in the club for a few years on-and-off,” he said. “I’ve been a legal adviser on some of its issues, we’ve (Clarion) been a sponsor and I’m also a massive fan of cricket full-stop.
“Robin Smith did an amazing job and decided that he wanted to step down after a 20-year period, and he’s been very kind to me and put his arm around me to let me know what might or might not happen.”
Hutton will leave the day-today running of the club to chief executive Mark Arthur – “an outstanding professional and great guy” – and hopes to add to an already sound structure.
“I want to make sure that all the various stakeholders in the club are engaged and that they’re heard,” he said.
“We’ve got a very strong membership, so it’s critical that they know what’s going on and are happy with what’s going on.
“We’ve got a very strong executive board, we’ve got some great non-execs round the table, and there’s some brilliant skill-sets.
“It’s just making sure that everyone’s joined up and engaged and trying to help add to the great work that’s already going on.”
Hutton saw his first Yorkshire match in the early 1970s.
“My parents took me to a Roses game and Yorkshire were something like 8-3,” he said.
“I remember asking my dad whether that was a good score or a bad score. My dad was a bit irritable about that as I remember!”
Hutton continued: “My hero during my childhood years was David Bairstow. He had great passion, energy and commitment, and he was one of those cricketers who, when he came to the wicket, you always thought that something was going to happen.
“It’s funny as I was laughing with Neil Hartley (Yorkshire’s new vice-chairman and former all-rounder) that I have an autograph book somewhere with Neil’s autograph.
“I’m looking forward to working with him, too, and his cricketing knowledge is second to none.”
Hutton may have joined Yorkshire at a challenging time for the game in general but his enthusiasm is infectious.
“I’m genuinely thrilled to pieces,” he said. “It’s sad, the timing of it, but you can’t take the smile off my face.
“I’m very proud indeed.”