Durham County Cricket Club, the longest standing club in Division One of the County Championship, is "facing the possibility of a points deduction being applied" to its final tally from the recently concluded season that could result in its relegation, according to Ali Martin of the London GUARDIAN. The England & Wales Cricket Board is "understood to be weighing up whether to impose sanctions on the club" due to the longstanding and well-documented "financial problems" as it struggled to manage an estimated £7.5M ($9.8M) debt. Durham filed its accounts for '15 last week, which "were both overdue and include the warning that the club’s future remains uncertain due to cash-flow forecasts suggesting that liabilities will not be met over the next 12 months unless additional funding is secured." The ECB has "assisted Durham with additional loans and a restructuring" of the £923,000 ($1.2M) fee for hosting the second Test with Sri Lanka in May. The "crux of the matter now rests on whether the ECB’s continued support and this subsequent restructure represents the business side of the club essentially being reborn, with rival counties now of the opinion this should take place from Division Two if so." Durham CEO David Harker said, "We are working towards a plan with the ECB and at this stage any talk of points deductions is purely speculative." The limited company that runs Durham was "offered to potential buyers this year," with the club’s directors having appointed the restructuring firm RSM LLP to deal with the sale under the name "Project Willow." No investors, however, were forthcoming, "with the ECB forced to step in to help." The club is expected to make a net loss of £766,000 ($997,000) for '16 (GUARDIAN, 9/27). In London, Nick Hoult wrote imposing a financial penalty on Durham "would be self defeating in this situation." When Glamorgan was late paying the staging fee for a Sri Lanka Test in '08, it was "stripped of a Test match between England and West Indies." Deducting points is now seen by the ECB "as a fairer way of punishing clubs." The ECB is reviewing the staging fees paid by Test match grounds to host int'l matches "which currently puts the risk on the counties" (TELEGRAPH, 9/27).
