Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney is being investigated by the Cricket Regulator for dismissing those who have called a vote of no confidence in the club’s board: ‘Old, entitled white men’.
Gidney was the subject of an official complaint to the regulator after referring to a group of Lancashire vice-presidents – including Michael Atherton, Neil Fairbrother, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and Paul Allott – with the description in a Sunday newspaper. The Cricket Regulator declined to comment while Daily Mail Sport also contacted Lancashire and the ECB.
It is the latest tempestuous twist in a saga that has seen the eminent collection of former England internationals with lifelong associations with the club campaign for greater focus to be placed on the cricket side of the 162-year-old cricket club.
They have campaigned for more knowledge of the sport to find its way into executive thinking at Old Trafford and narrowly failed last month with a Special General Meeting petition to increase representation of former employees on the board from two to four. Lloyd, 79, later had an application to join the board rejected without offer of an interview, leaving him ‘flabbergasted’ and ‘embarrassed.’
The ‘rebel’ faction are now pushing for the club’s AGM – which has been squeezed into a 90-minute gap between T20 Blast fixtures for Lancashire’s men’s and women’s sides on the ground next Bank Holiday Monday – to be adjourned. They believe that in addition to its challenging positioning in the season’s calendar, it provides insufficient time for what is viewed as a key meeting for the club’s future.
It has been brought forward from its original date next Friday, which would have post-dated the SGM had Lancashire accepted the petition of no confidence rather than dismiss it as non-compliant.
Daniel Gidney (right) is being investigated by the cricket regulator
Gidney had dismissed a group of Lancashire vice-presidents – including Michael Atherton (left) and David Lloyd (right) – as ‘old, entitled white men’
They also say that the club’s Nominations Committee has exceeded its remit in not interviewing suitable member candidates and in making preferred choices.
Members, they argue, should have a choice of candidates for all positions, and that contrary to current club policy, balanced arguments for member resolutions should be sent out with both AGM and SGM notices. Rather than members being urged by the club, undemocratically, to vote against resolutions without being offered informed choice.
Gidney, 56, is retiring at the end of the 2026 season, after 14 years at the helm, having overseen a comprehensive development of the ground, huge strides being made in women’s cricket – Lancashire were double cup winners last year – and a windfall recouped from the 70 per cent majority stake sale of the Manchester Hundred franchise to the RPSG group.
However, further analysis of the club’s recent accounts suggests that the £29.2million cash injection masks what was effectively a loss of just under £3.5m for 2025.
On the pitch, Lancashire are 10 points off the promotion spots in Division Two after being relegated in 2024.
