Derbyshire announce big loss

Derbyshire have announced a loss of £215,439 for 2005 after the club went through major restructuring.

A trading loss of £148,019 was exacerbated by one-off costs of £67,420 during a year where the club appointed a new chairman, chief executive, brought in new administration procedures and attempted to strengthen the squad with new playing staff.

"While it is obviously very disappointing to post a substantial loss it was always going to be the case," explained the chief executive Tom Sears. "Myself and our new chairman Don Amott inherited a position where we were committed to high costs set against unrealistic income projections and a drop of £83,000 in our ECB distribution.

"We had to address every area of our business and take tough decisions including redundancies, releasing players and overhauling our catering operation. A great deal has been achieved since then and the changes we have implemented have started to bear fruit.

"We are very confident that we are now on the right track and have a structure in place that will allow us to compete on the field and thrive off it."

Derbyshire finished bottom of division two in the County Championship and lost their captain, Luke Sutton, at the end of last season when he moved to Lancashire. However, over the winter they have made some significant signings, including the overseas duo of Mohammad Yousuf and Jacques Rudolph as well as Chris Taylor from Gloucestershire.