CRISIS CLUB MIDDLESEX BEGIN PLAN TO MOVE AWAY FROM LORD’S
Middlesex have taken the first step towards private ownership to fund a new home away from Lord’s.
The crisis-plagued county have told members they are actively exploring demutualisation after being plunged into fresh turmoil amid a Cricket Regulator investigation into their chief executive.
Andrew Cornish was absent from a meeting with members on Tuesday at which the club began a formal consultation over becoming just the fourth first-class county to go private.
Chairman Richard Sykes told Telegraph Sport that Cornish was “on a leave of absence”, adding: “The Cricket Regulator is involved and I can’t say more than that.”
The investigation into Cornish, who has denied any wrongdoing, is unrelated to demutualisation. But the timing could hardly be worse for the 161-year-old club as they look to join Durham, Northamptonshire and Hampshire in becoming privately owned.
As tenants of Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s, Middlesex are unique among the 18 counties as they do not own their home ground. This means they are unable to make money through non-cricket activities such as conferencing and events.
They play at a series of outgrounds such as Merchant Taylors’ School, Richmond and Radlett, but have long sought a “home away from home” to provide stability and generate income. Sykes believes the only way to raise the funds for this is via demutualisation.
Earlier this year, Middlesex engaged sports investment specialists Oakvale Capital to explore selling shares in the club. In recent months, they have held talks with an American group over an investment of more than £20m, but were informed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that such a move would breach the County Partnership Agreement, and lead to a withdrawal of central funds that are a key plank of a county like Middlesex’s finances.
“We have been actively looking at how we could attract external investment,” Sykes said. “Discussions with the ECB have shown that the only way we can realistically achieve any investment into Middlesex is if we were to demutualise, so someone could come in at what they call ‘TopCo’ level.
“We looked at potential strategic partners, joint ventures or similar. We thought that looked quite an attractive way of investing into Middlesex without demutualisation.
“We accept and understand the ECB’s position. That is why we are consulting our members over whether demutualisation is practical and possible.”
To demutualise, Middlesex need 50 per cent of their voting members to turn out. Around 5,500 of the near-7,000 membership have voting rights, and the club would then require a 75 per cent majority in favour of the change, which Sykes described as “a challenge, both logistically and emotionally”.
Middlesex stand to receive around £24m from the sale of stakes in the eight Hundred teams earlier this year, but have to make a business case to access these funds. ECB guardrails mean it must be used for developing a ground, which they do not have, or paying down debt, which they also do not have. That money is also not enough to build an appropriate ground on its own. After years of loss-making, Middlesex’s finances have stabilised in recent years but only through brutal cost-cutting, which has come at a time of underperformance on the field.
“Our finances are pretty challenging,” Sykes said. “We don’t have our own home. We play at Lord’s when we can. But, in 2026, we are playing relatively little cricket there because of the demands on Lord’s with the Hundred and the Women’s World Cup. Just two of our six home Vitality Blast matches are at Lord’s next year.
“We get less income because we are not playing at Lord’s. Second to that, we have the additional cost of outgrounds. Our outgrounds cost us money. Next year, 2026, the increased cost of playing at outgrounds is £200,000-300,000… When we can’t play at Lord’s, how can we find a home away from Lord’s that is a commercial opportunity, not a financial drain?
“But the only way we could justifiably invest in a home away from Lord’s would be if we could find a way of someone investing into Middlesex.”
For some time, Uxbridge has been seen as the likeliest new home, but Sykes said no decisions had been made and there was no chance of leaving Lord’s entirely.
“Lord’s remains at the heart of everything we do,” he said. “Our relationships with MCC are good. Our member surveys tell us they want to watch Middlesex play at Lord’s. That is key.
“This is not something we are taking lightly. We are a members club and that is at the heart of everything we stand for. We have looked at options to get investment in. We recognise now that demutualisation is the way forward.”
The move comes amid a tumultuous few years for Middlesex.
The investigation into Cornish is the second by the Cricket Regulator into a member of staff at the club in just over a year.
The county were cleared in November last year after being charged with conduct “which is improper or which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket, or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or groups of cricketers into disrepute”.
Middlesex also remain locked in a toxic legal battle with Cornish’s predecessor as chief executive, Richard Goatley, who is suing them for more than £1m.
News of his “personal injury” lawsuit emerged following a financial crisis at the club that led to them being sanctioned by the ECB for “mismanagement”, the alleged full extent of which was laid bare in 2023 by Telegraph Sport.
Middlesex were first plunged into turmoil more than four years ago with the discovery of an error in pensions payments that ended up costing the county a six-figure sum and compounded losses triggered by the coronavirus crisis.
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