Lancs chief hopes for April return of crowds
DANIEL Gidney wants to see crowds back into Emirates Old Trafford for the County Championship in April.
And the Lancashire chief executive is confident the club can safely hold a capacity 21,000 for this summer’s T20 Roses clash with Yorkshire and the India Test in September.
Gidney revealed the Covid pandemic has cost the club around £18m in turnover as the conference and events side of the business took a huge hit.
They had to make seven compulsory redundancies, while some staff have been furloughed for months.
But Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown – which could see around 6,000 in Emirates Old Trafford from May 17 and full houses for the Blast, international cricket and The Hundred from June 21 - means there is light at the end of the financial tunnel for the Red Rose.
“My glass is full, I’m very excited about what the Government has done,” Gidney said. “This is the best news I’ve had - as somebody who lives and loves live events - in a very, very long time.
“There are some people who are just desperate to get out and watch cricket, there are people desperate just to experience live events and go and do something.
“People talk about the Roaring Twenties after the First World War, I genuinely believe we’re going to have the same again.
“There’s something like £250bn of savings in households, which is an eyewatering number because people just haven’t been spending any money.
“We’ve got to find a way as the events and sports industry to give them a way they can spend some money to watch live events and live sport. It’s fantastic.
“We’ve had significant pain, it’s been a very, very challenging year.
“The club has had its challenges before, but 2020 was extraordinary for us.”
Although Gidney is keen to get crowds back in the door, he admits they can’t go from nothing to 6,000 at the drop of a hat. So he is calling for the
County Championship, which starts in the second week of April, to be part of the Government’s planned trial events ahead of the May 17 lifting of restrictions.
“We are looking at a crowd of around just over 6,000 in May. You can’t just do that in one go,” he said.
“It’s very important to me that any pilots or trials include the Championship in April.
“It’s a perfect audience because a lot of them will have been vaccinated - we also have the space because we have 17 acres to do a lot of lateral flow volume testing and that is high on the Goverment’s agenda and we are very keen to support that.
“I want to be able to get members back watching the County
Championship in April - not in huge numbers, but we need to get those pilots away so we don’t rush in blind on May 17.
“If you are looking for lower risk things to do, getting members in small numbers in April I believe is something we should all be doing to reward members who have been very, very patient.”