The Cricketer Magazine – June 2018

that England had control of a dozen players
or so, now they seem in charge of everyone.
At the moment not only are players leaving
their counties to play Test cricket, we’re
told they must rest, others are sitting in the
dressing room to ‘become accustomed to
the environment’, or bat and bowl in the
nets; others play for the Lions. It makes it a
nightmare for counties to manage and plan.
“All these absences mean the Championship
looks nothing more than a senior version of

the Minor Counties, and yet we’re hoping it
produces Test cricketers.
“There will be a six or seven-week block at
the start of the season. The England players
will play for their counties. The selectors will
be at matches. I couldn’t believe it when I
heard that the England coach hadn’t seen
Dom Bess bowl, or before him our own Liam
Dawson. That sent shivers down my spine.
“After that period, a squad of 15 England
players should be picked. It will be like a home
tour, with five or six Tests to follow – this
period will be the cornerstone of the English
game. If you had that in place, there would
be no need for central contracts. They make
players too detached from the county game.
There are fewer and fewer playing all the
formats now – Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and
so on. This number will become even smaller.
I’d be happy to give them central contracts – a
special one for the national captain, and so on.
You just don’t need everyone.”
Willis has twice before tried to steer
administrators in the right direction. In India
in 1981/82 he and Paul Allott implored the
TCCB to introduce four-day matches to the
Championship.
Then in 2003 he helped form the Cricket
Reform Group, along with his brother David,
Mike Atherton, Michael Parkinson and
Saracens chairman Nigel Wray.

Thank you for filling in the forms with your
thoughts on the structure of domestic cricket.
Please keep sending them to us (email
[email protected]). There is much
more to come from The Cricketer next month

Vialli wants to strike deals for counties

EXCLUSIVE by Huw Turbervill

An unlikely figure has positioned

himself as a saviour of county

cricket clubs – former Italy striker

Gianluca Vialli.

Vialli, who made his name at

Sampdoria and Juventus, before

going on to manage Chelsea and

Watford, is co-founder of a sports

investment platform called Tifosy.

He is working alongside chief

executive Fausto Zanetton,

who advised some of the largest

companies in the media, technology

and sports during his investment

banking career.

Tifosy offers fans the chance

to invest in their clubs, with

Portsmouth FC and Norwich City

among the beneficiaries. Now the

company wants to move into other

sports, with cricket on its radar.

Tifosy helps leading sports clubs

raise capital online by issuing debt or

equity and connecting through their

fanbase and individual investors.

This is different from crowdfunding.

They say their “mission is to enable

everyone to invest in sports, fairly

and transparently, and it is the only

such platform licensed by the UK

financial regulator, the Financial

Conduct Authority.”

Tifosy helped Portsmouth install

two grass pitches at their academy

in 2014, attracting funding from

5,500 fans.

Their biggest campaign to date

was for Norwich City in March 2018,

raising £5m through a mini-bond

(an unsecured investment which

offers investors a specified financial

return) to build a new academy.

They launched the first mini-bond

in English football for Stevenage

FC in 2017 to build a new all-seater

stand and also helped Shrewsbury

Town build the first safe standing

area in the English game.

They say they have had discussions

with several counties about

launching the first such scheme in

English cricket, although they are

unable to reveal them because of

confidentiality agreements.

“This is a win-win for fans,”

Zanetton told The Cricketer. “They

would get little interest in savings

funds, but this way they can help

their clubs raise money for projects

while getting a return on their

investment. Fans need visibility

and this scheme offers that. Clubs

need to build infrastructure. We

appreciate cricket, the culture

surrounding the game, and its links

to the Commonwealth.”

Zanetton says he would be

keen to speak to MCC about

funding for the new Compton

and Edrich Stands, due to be

redeveloped between 2019

and 2021.

Vialli has attended a Test match

at The Oval and even had a go at

cricket in South Africa, while visiting

with his wife. He has an interest in

sports other than football, having

apparently developed an enjoyment

of Gaelic football.

Gianluca

Vialli in his

Chelsea days

‘The conference idea woud lead to

another 20 years of mediocrity. If the

laws of the land allow, only players

qualified for England would play in it’

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