- A board review was carried out with the club looking to cut £1 million in expenditure
- Yorkshire will take on Gloucestershire in the opening match of the County Championship on April 12
- Yorkshire batsman Harry Brook is pulling out of IPL to spend time with his family
Darren Gough has stepped down as Yorkshire director of cricket following a review of the club’s operational structure by Headingley’s new board.
The positions of chief executive Stephen Vaughan and first-team coach Ottis Gibson have also come under scrutiny as Yorkshire look to save up to £1m on current expenditure.
Gough, 53, was identified as the man who would lead Yorkshire out of the racism crisis in December 2021, but the team has been crippled by disciplinary penalties over historical allegations over the past two seasons and finished second in the table with a 48-point handicap. final. the provincial championship of the year.
“It has been an absolute honor to work for my boyhood club over the past two seasons,” said Gough.
‘As we have stepped in at a very challenging time, we have worked hard to steady the ship and develop our cricket department to ensure we can return to the pinnacle of English cricket.
Darren Gough has resigned from his role as Yorkshire director of cricket following a board review
Gough intervened in the wake of the racism scandal that surrounded the club in December 2021
“After discussions with the club, I have decided that this is the right time to step down from my role and give someone else the opportunity to take our playing teams forward.
“I would like to thank all our players, staff, members and fans for their significant support over recent seasons and wish them all the best for the year ahead.”
Colin Graves, who returned as Yorkshire chairman earlier this year, said: “I would like to sincerely thank Darren for the work he has put in over the past few seasons.
“Darren is a club legend in his own right. He has had two very successful spells here as a player and has now helped us through some very difficult times in his role as director of cricket.”
Graves pledged £1 million of his own money to cover Yorkshire’s running costs for the coming season when he was reappointed, and with the club about to announce record losses which had increased due to unfair dismissal claims and legal costs resulting from the actions of former chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel, Stabilizing the club’s finances is a priority.
Gough was considered the highest paid cricket director in the county game, with a salary of around £250,000.
Mail Sport understands that the new board has been in contact with several figures with links to the club in recent weeks to get a sense of how effectively things have been running in recent times, and that there will be further changes in relation to this in the coming season the budgets will be implemented. .
The former England fast bowler was believed to have a salary of around £250,000
Yorkshire have no plans to replace Gough anytime soon and appear intent on overhauling the make-up of the cricket department during the season, which starts in just three weeks.
It means Gibson, who is in the final year of a three-year contract, will take charge of the players, supported by a backroom team of Tom Smith, Kabir Ali and Ali Maiden.