Yorkshire’s board has agreed to a proposal from a consortium led by Colin Graves which is set to see the former chairman make a controversial return to the club.
The offer still needs the green light from club members at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
The financially-stricken club are in desperate need of cash to ward off the threat of administration.
Other options – including a mooted deal with former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley – failed to fully materialise and have left the way clear for Graves to come back in at a club he served as chairman between 2012 and 2015.
It has been reported that the Graves consortium’s offer includes an immediate loan of £1m, followed quickly by new investment worth a further £4m.
In a statement issued by the club on Wednesday evening, Yorkshire said: “The board of Yorkshire County Cricket Club has tonight agreed to recommend the loan agreement from Mr Colin Graves.
“The club will be sending a notice to members tomorrow (Thursday) ahead of an EGM which will outline the details of the offer as well as the resolutions and rule changes that are required to be ratified by members at the EGM.”
The 75-year-old Graves served as Yorkshire chairman between 2012 and 2015 and his time in the role covered part of the period where the club were fined £400,000 for failing to address the systemic use of racist or discriminatory language.
Graves denies knowledge of racist behaviour during his initial spell as chairman, which came before he took on a similar role at the England and Wales Cricket Board between 2015 and 2020.
The ECB criticised Graves last year after he described incidents of racism at Yorkshire as “banter”.
Graves is understood to be preparing to release a public apology to anyone who suffered racism at Yorkshire and for dismissing the abuse in a Sky Sports interview last year as “banter”. This is part of the process to quell the backlash to him regaining control of the county.
Former spin bowler Azeem Rafiq, who gave harrowing testimony to MPs in November 2021 about the abuse he suffered during two spells at the club between 2008 and 2018, tweeted “No longer my club” alongside a broken heart emoji.
Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North West, said: “I am very concerned that we would lose the progress we have made under a return by Mr Graves and would need not just a statement recanting his views but full commitment to create a club for the whole community.”
Azeem Rafiq has criticised Graves’ potential return to Yorkshire
Graves’ expected return as Yorkshire chairman was condemned by Rafiq and charity Sporting Equals earlier this week, with the latter writing an open letter to the ECB and sports minister Stuart Andrew as well as county cricket clubs and their sponsors expressing their dismay.
Yorkshire say Graves’ potential reinstatement comes after a “rigorous process” that involved meeting with over 350 interested parties as they seek the investment needed to keep the club afloat.
However, Sporting Equals, which promotes ethnic diversity across sport, feels Graves’ reappointment would “make a mockery” of victims of racism and “undermine the progress made” within cricket.
The charity also said it would “be a rejection of the ICEC Report’s thorough investigation and well considered conclusions”, referring to the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s findings that racism, sexism, classism and elitism were “widespread” in English and Welsh cricket.
The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s recommendations include overhauling the women’s pay structure and reviving Black cricket
Rafiq, writing in the Observer, said Graves’ prospective return “exposes a failing game” and that “nothing has changed”.
“Sponsors found their moral compass before, and they need to find it again, because any organisation supporting this is complicit in it,” wrote Rafiq.
“There is still time for them to act, to leave now and stop Yorkshire stepping back in time and undoing what progress they have made in the past three years.”
Clive Efford MP, a member of the culture, media and sport committee, said last week that Graves’ return would be “a disaster for cricket”.
Graves gave Yorkshire a multi-million-pound loan in 2002, of which some £14.9m is still owed to the Graves Family Trust.