Sean Jarvis: CEO Monthly Report - December 2022

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to give season’s greetings to you and yours, and the very best wishes for a prosperous 2023. I genuinely hope you have a good one.

For my last CEO update of the year, which is slightly early due to the Xmas break, I will start with our Commercial Pillar.

Since the 2022 season completed there have been several new faces join the commercial team.  With the new arrivals, they bring together a combined specific skill set of ticketing, events, sales, and communication. And whilst there are still some of the regular faces at the Club, the commercial team has changed a little over the past three months. Consequently, I would urge you to have patience with them as they are not only learning how things operate but are also looking to try some new ways of doing things too. Our aim is to continually push, innovate, and continue to build the much-needed commercial revenues for the Club.

What was encouraging, as we finalise the accounts, is we did hit a record turnover in 2022. A great achievement by all, but we need to build on this if we want Leicestershire to continue to grow.

The early signs from the new (and old) look team are positive. Granted it is early days but sales for the Club are currently 7.9% ahead of our (tough) 2023 budgets and an impressive 49.8% ahead of the same period last year. When you drill down into these figures, our membership is performing well (already 40% ahead of the same period last year) and catering contributed a record November with a 17.4% increase versus last November. 

To finish on commercial, one of our familiar faces is moving on to pastures new. Consequently, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tracey Branson for her long-standing service to Leicestershire and wish her well in her next chapter. Her contribution to the Club and the commercial office will be missed but the team will pay their respects to Tracey by looking to build on the excellent work she has done previously. 

Moving onto the Community Pillar. It was great to attend the recent recreational game summit run by the ECB. Seeing so many of our counterparts was useful and it was good to learn how they operate. Our new Community Director (Namita) along with our Interim Head of Community (Andy) attended alongside me and hearing the keynote speakers was incredibly useful. Our big project for the next few months is to undertake an audit on how our community department operates and then see if we can look at ways in which we can build on the work we are doing, which brings me nicely onto the next paragraph.

With the success of our County Talent Champions, it’s great to hear we have now recruited two individuals for the girls’ side of the Club. The official website will bring the news, but they will be joining us in the new year.

Additionally, as well as the first team in the indoor school, it’s been good to see the Women’s and Girls’ team training there too. I think they are following the first team’s lead on having the toughest (training wise) pre-season the Club has ever seen. 

Sticking with our Women and Girls section it was a real honour to attend (and then read about their awards night). Congrats to all that participated and picked up an award. Also, a shout out to Prisha Thanawala and Dinky Roff who have earned a place in the new Blaze academy. Finally, some exciting news on Appleby Magna, Oakham, Bardon Hill, Loughborough Carillon and Asian Sports who are developing their Women’s and Girls offer.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have also been reading a lot about our Chance to Shine Street programmes (was because of Aamina Vhora winning the Street Coach of the Year award). What was a positive was a taster session that delivered to nearly 400 children, and in turn resulted in a good transition to projects including a record attendance at New Parks Street. Excellent news for the grassroots of the game. 

With regards to our Cricket Pillar, it was incredible to watch Rehan Ahmed’s England debut over the past week. Seeing him become the youngest ever England debutant and the youngest ever Men’s Test debutant to take a five-fer filled me with immense pride. There was a real buzz around the Club and it’s testament to the fantastic work our coaches right through from pathway to first team have done to develop another England star “ we have a proud heritage, as I’m sure you know!

It was also exciting to announce the return of Naveen for the 2023 T20 Blast. His two seasons with the Club have shown his vast set of white ball skills and I know there were a few other counties champing at the bit to get his signature “ luckily, he signed on the dotted line at Uptonsteel County Ground. I truly believe we can win a fourth T20 trophy next summer, so I urge you to get your Membership or Blast Pass to help make Grace Road a cauldron of noise along the way.

I also managed this month to catch up with Jigar Naik, our Head of the Academy and Talent Pathway. What he told me was really encouraging to hear. He believes there is lots of potential in our teams coming through and that we are really seeing a ‘Leicestershire Way’ being developed. I’ve also had sight of the Academy’s winter training schedule and it looks like they are having a tough time too.

For myself, Claude, and all the cricket coaches, it is about laying the right foundations and with the work being undertaken during the first two months of the close season, it looks very promising. Proof is, of course, in the eating of the pudding, but the preparations to date look to be going well.

The big focus of the Company Pillar (plus other pillars) during the previous month was our annual County Partnership Agreement meeting with the ECB. In simple this is where we and the ECB meet to discuss our plans and if we are meeting the requirements needed to be a first-class county. During the meeting, many ideas and best practices are shared, guiding us to improve how we operate. Equally we provide our feedback to the ECB. During the meeting we discuss our ongoing development of the ground, including the imminent upgrading of the changing rooms and officials’ facilities, to our talent pathway and how it operates. 

One of the projects the team are currently working on is the developing of a woodland walk (next to our memorial garden). This will aim to celebrate nature and we are hoping it will be finalised by the start of the new season.

Our new Pillar, Communications, is now up and running and our biggest project during the last month was the transfer to a new e-comms platform that should help us communicate with you, our supporters.

We are also implementing an audit of our website with the aim to try and improve our communication. The end of the year (whilst it’s month 3 of the new financial year) also gives us the opportunity to reflect on how things have gone in the previous months. So, it’s great to now boast that we currently rank 5th in the social media tables that include Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube (to mention just a few). 

The interest in Rehan also sparked a frenzy of local and national media attention. Everywhere you turned, there was a story, footage or interview about Rehan, including a circus of news crews coming down to Uptonsteel County Ground for an inside scoop on his development with the Club. Credit to the Communications team for helping spread the word of our great work at the ‘Academy of Cricket.’ 

Finally, Cash, next month I will aim to bring you our first quarter figures and how we are performing v budget and previous years. 

Once again, thanks for your continued support of the Club and I look forward to seeing you in 2023. In the meantime, have a great Christmas.

Sean