Colin Graves could return as Yorkshire chairman with Lord Patel stepping down

Colin Graves is lining up for a sensational return as Yorkshire chairman following Lord Kamlesh Patel’s announcement that he will step down in March.

sports mail he has learned that Graves has been approached by several members of the Yorkshire board about returning to Headingley in recent days and is seriously considering the matter.

The Yorkshire Board is in charge of running the appointment process, which will need to be ratified by county members at the AGM later this year.

It is understood that Graves would be interested in returning to a club he rescued from bankruptcy 20 years ago on the condition that he is given a three-year term to stabilize the club’s finances before handing it over to a younger candidate.

Graves sought a place on the Yorkshire Board as one of two members’ representatives last year, but was unsuccessful, claiming his appointment was blocked by Julian Knight MP, chair of the Department’s select committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports.

However, the 74-year-old would be a popular choice with many of the members, having rescued Yorkshire before and providing long-term security by buying the cricket ground from Leeds Rhinos owner Paul Caddick.

However, it is unclear whether Graves would have Patel’s backing, as their relationship has grown strained in recent years despite working closely together when the former was ECB president.

Graves is seen by many on the Yorkshire Board as the best-placed candidate to unite the club following the infighting that has marred Patel’s term in charge and the fallout from the Azeem Rafiq race scandal.

The former ECB president is also expected to be able to alleviate the club’s significant financial problems, which are likely to escalate this year.

Yorkshire is facing ECB sanctions over its handling of Rafiq’s racism complaints and has been relegated to the County Championship Second Division.

The club is expected to announce losses of around £2m when it publishes its annual accounts later this month despite staging a test match and a one-day international, much of which was due to payments from compensation to the 16 back-room staff fired by Patel. and related legal fees.

Yorkshire have a major legal claim pending with former physiotherapist Wayne Morton suing for more than £500,000 in a case due to be heard by the High Court.

Hosting the third Ashes Test in July will provide the club with a much-needed financial boost, but this will only be a short-term boost as they don’t have a Test match in 2024 and the ECB has not allocated caps beyond that date. .

In addition to recent losses, Yorkshire also owes more than £16m to the Graves family trust from his previous time as chairman between 2012 and 2015, an ongoing liability which they have been unable to eradicate.

Sportsmail has learned that Yorkshire recently tried to refinance the debt by seeking commercial loans, but concluded that repayments were unaffordable and that banks were offering interest rates of around 12 per cent compared with the four per cent they are currently paying.

Graves’s candidacy would also win the support of Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Darren Gough, with whom he maintains a close relationship.