Yorkshire chief executive Stephen Vaughan hopes to secure the club’s financial future within a matter of weeks, but admits he had to “kiss a lot of frogs” before finding a suitable investor.
The county owes the Graves Family Trust nearly £15million and also faces a hefty fine following a CDC investigation into historic racism, with Vaughan working on refinancing the debt ever since he took over in November.
Former chair Colin Graves angrily withdrew his own interest in returning after claiming he had been treated as a “last resort”, while former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, backers of IPL franchise Delhi Capitals and Prince Badr of Saudi Arabia are among a long list of those linked with Yorkshire.
Others from India and the UK have also been involved in talks and, with an initial £500,000 payment to the Graves Trust due in September, Vaughan is confident a deal is close.
But he also admitted the process had been far from straightforward.
“We’ve spoken to a lot of people. In these situations you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs,” he said.
“I really did kiss a lot of frogs, I carry Lipsil around with me I’ve kissed so many. Hopefully (we’ve found a prince), but not the Saudi prince we were reported to have met. We don’t remember that one!
“It was always going to be a very difficult time to attract a traditional financier in the UK. The club’s brand equity wasn’t as high as it could have been because we were in the news for the wrong reasons.
“But we’re now at a place where we’ve got a bedfellow we’re working with. It’s not a takeover, not a buyout, it’s an investor coming in to ensure we can move on and continue our journey.
“We’re hoping in weeks rather than months we’ll be able to announce we’re getting something done. These things are always full of legal conversations, lawyers to lawyers, and you’re only as fast as your slowest runner in the race.
“We’ve got to start a new chapter for Yorkshire. We want to be unapologetically modern and progressive.”
Vaughan explained that the market interest in the club had been huge, but most were looking for an outright controlling stake that Yorkshire were unwilling, and unable, to offer.
“We could have sold Yorkshire cricket 15 times over,” he said.
“It wouldn’t even have to go on the market. Everyone wants a piece of Yorkshire cricket, but we’re a members’ co-operative and the dynamic changes dramatically.
“You go from dozens of organisations saying ‘how much can we pay for Yorkshire cricket, we’re desperate to buy it’, to explaining that it’s not an equity play, it’s a loan. That takes out 99% of the market immediately.”