Leicestershire Monthly Report - August 2021

Welcome to the CEO update report for August. As I have been doing for the past 18 months, these are intended to be a reflective review of all that has gone on in the previous month, with a bit of insight as to what is to come from the five pillars of the Club going forwards.

For this edition, I will begin with our Company Pillar.

In simple, there has been so much going on in this part of the business. 

One of the changes we are looking to introduce is to create a professional ‘Leicestershire journey’ for our supporters. In other words, the moment you arrive or your first contact at the Club to the point you leave. What I have found and from witnessing people that visit us, particularly for the first time, is that our current experience is a bit all over the place. Our reception is on the inside and round the other side of the ground, we don't have a retail operation or dedicated ticket office to name just a few things. Consequently, we have taken a long hard look at this and we have decided to make improvements. 

As part of our strategy for the forthcoming 2022 season, we will be working on a ‘Running Foxes Entrance Project’. This should see the introduction of a reception area, with not only commercial and community offices but, a Club shop and dedicated area where tickets and memberships can be purchased. 

However, our ‘entrance experience’ won't stop there. You may have seen recently a tweet I put out on a memorial garden. This has been high on our agenda having chatted to our Members early this year. It is something they are keen to see. So we have begun this process and again, we are looking to introduce the new Leicestershire CCC Memorial Garden during this Autumn or Winter. Additionally when you arrive there will be some Leicestershire CCC branding which ultimately lets you know you have ‘arrived’ at our great Club. 

Lastly and more one for next season, three of our Pillars (Commercial, Company and Community) are working on a Fox/Fanzone to create a great experience for all when coming to our games and encourage people to come to the Uptonsteel County Ground a bit earlier than normal.

Apart from the ground improvements, we are recruiting too. If you have been following the website or our social media channels we are now recruiting for a number of positions. I would urge if you have the skills and are keen on joining the ‘Running Foxes’ then take a look and submit your CV. One of the roles is a key senior position; the Head of Marketing and Consumer sales. This role will ultimately be about continuing to raise our profile and increasing numbers at our Club. This is just one of our Five Pillars and hopefully, you can see the progressive changes we are making. 

On to our Commercial Pillar.

Like the other four pillars, there’s plenty happening. Firstly, it was great to finally see the return of crowds with limited restrictions imposed. From the moment the lockdown was ended we could see there was an appetite from our Members to come to our games and that first game against Derbyshire Falcons saw a bumper crowd. In fact, the attendances at our Royal London Cup fixtures have been really encouraging.

Speaking of attendances, I am pretty sure Day One of our second phase of the 2021 LV= County Championship versus Kent CCC will be a record crowd for us. Hopefully, you will have seen our initiative to get some ‘bums on seats’ for this Bank Holiday. At the time of writing, we were approaching 3,000 tickets claimed for the day. It’s great to see so many (hopefully new faces as well) take up this offer and come and see what Leicestershire CCC is all about. As part of the ‘Family Fun Day’ there is plenty going on including our state-of-the-art batting simulator which I have seen installed in our Indoor school and looks pretty impressive. I for one can't wait to have a go.

Our calendar of events over the next few months is looking popular as we have the visits of Freddie, Tina and a set of Kiwis! On Thursday, September 23, we have our West End Show ‘An Evening of Tina’ then the following day it's an ‘Evening of Queen’. Both are brilliant musicals in London and it's great that we have them visiting our ground. I know they have been popular but some tickets do remain so please visit our official website to book. 

Speaking of dates for the diary, we have international cricket coming to our ground on Tuesday, September 21, as England Women take on New Zealand Women. It’s a great opportunity to see our National team. And having witnessed female cricket more this summer by visiting our Women and Girls and watching some games in The Hundred, I am certain this will be a great fixture to watch.

Now that our cricket season is finishing it means we can now start to use the Charles Palmer Suite again. Having spoken to our Conference and Banqueting team, they have told me bookings for October onwards are filling up fast, particularly the Christmas Party Nights that we have planned. So if you are considering booking I would urge you to do so quickly. 

Finally, if you have heard about our podcast, which runs in association with one of our media partners, BBC Radio Leicester, then I would encourage you to download the BBC Sounds app and tune into the Talking Foxes podcast every Tuesday between 6pm and 7pm. There is a series of them and they are very informative as well as quite funny in parts.

Onto the Cricket pillar.

Our season is now drawing to a close and we only have four remaining LV= County Championship fixtures. We aim to try and win the Conference we are in, so hopefully, we can get off to a good start versus Kent. It’s also great to welcome back Colin and Callum from appearing in The Hundred and of course Tom Smith for his coaching at Trent Rockets.

As mentioned in my last update, I do believe this season has been one of progress and having seen nearly 30 personal bests achieved, there is certainly cause for optimism going forwards. What has also been encouraging is the emergence of one of our Academy players, Rehan Ahmed. This is something I am very keen for Leicestershire to build on.

Like Paul Nixon, I look forward to finishing off our season in style and then reviewing how we can progress and further develop Leicestershire for the 2022 season.

Onto Community.

It has been great to see the ‘All Stars’ and ‘Dynamo’s’ cricket continue to flourish and seeing children enjoying their sessions at Clubs like Bharat Sports. It’s also been excellent to see the delivery of our ECB Foundation Courses delivered at Clubs.

Our Community work is not often seen (which is something I am keen to change) but it is incredibly important to us. These are the grassroots of our game and something we must build on. Speaking of grassroots, I was really encouraged to see an infographic from the ECB recently that highlighted the increasing numbers in cricket including;

• 1,656 community grants to help clubs during the summer holidays
• 738 events held during the Women’s Big Cricket Month 
• 100,000 kids played All Stars and Dynamo’s 
• 2,750 additional coaches from diverse backgrounds

I must say these are really encouraging numbers and something ‘Cricket PLC’ needs to build on.

Finally our Cash pillar.

Over the pandemic, it has been incredibly difficult for the Club, and sadly remains so. We have lost out in so many ways including crowds during the T20 Vitality Blast, hospitality at our games and use of the Indoor School to name just three major income streams for the Club. 

Now that we are exiting the pandemic (and our season is drawing to a close), there are limited chances to support us. However, we do have an ongoing calendar of events at the Uptonsteel County Ground over the winter period including West End Shows, Christmas Party Nights and the ability to now book the Indoor School. 

Consequently, I would urge you to keep our cash flows going and keep supporting the Club as best you can by taking a good look at these opportunities. Cash is the lifeblood of our Club. Our membership offering will also be launched in the next couple of months and once again I would urge you to support us where you can. We remain indebted to your support but for Leicestershire to grow cash is king.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to read my update. I guess our school report would say “good progress with encouraging signs for the future but we must continue to work hard to realise our potential.”