The Cricket Statistician No 195

40 It is against this background that Sale traces in forensic and sometimes brutal detail every step of a saga that has dragged on for over 20 years with none of Rifkind’s hopes fulfilled. A Vision for Lord’s was drawn up, supposedly with costs shared. An undercroft was at one stage envisaged featuring an indoor cricket school with 16 full-length nets, underground shops, conference and banqueting facilities, a gym, pool, spa and six squash courts. There was separate excitement that the unused tunnels might be converted to provide operating theatres for the nearby Wellington Hospital. Most of it was pie in the sky and, the planning money spent, MCC switched to the option of a Masterplan of phased development funded from ongoing revenue. A disenchanted Rifkind, still wishing to peddle his own vision for 97 apartments, commissioned a new plan for the Wellington Road end. The innovative and attractive Morley Plan came with a sweetener to members – two years free of subscriptions. It was all to no avail. MCC saw to that by stifling publicity and denying David Morley the right to present his design in person at the road shows arranged for members. Unsurprisingly a massive majority of members rejected the scheme, thereby making clear what might have been established millions of pounds earlier – that they did not want blocks of flats within their ground at any price. Future historians of MCC may celebrate a new Warner Stand and stunning development of the Compton and Edrich stands, but they are less likely to share stories of the underlying rancour. Hero or villain of the piece according to your standpoint has been Oliver Stocken, chairman from 2009 to 2015, with treasurer Justin Dowley his constant ally. Ultimately they were to undermine and then disband the committee under Robert Griffiths QC charged with implementing the Masterplan. The author has not toned down the language of some of those who served on committees. A man with an outstanding reputation in City circles is said to have no brain, another speaks of a colleague as ‘a silly man who talked gibberish’. The club chairman is ‘a shit’ and his chief henchman ‘a nasty piece of work’. With such soubriquets flying around within MCC, it is no surprise that anti-Semitism is said to have influenced attitudes to Rifkind. Sir John Major, who had been on the main committee and also in Griffiths’ team, despaired of the ways of working and resigned. He and Charles Fry had been lone voices not wishing to kill the commercial development that could have brought the club a nest egg of over £100 million, but what may seem a handy sum to us simpletons was dismissed by the ruling duo. ‘I had the embarrassing job of explaining to a former Chancellor of the Exchequer net present value, which is the difference between the present value of cash inflow and the present value of cash outflow over a period of time.’ Thus was Sir John enlightened by the treasurer, where I guess he and I had shared the simple thought that cash in hand was cash in hand! This review can give only a flavour of the disharmony, in which a complicating factor was Keith Bradshaw, as secretary and chief executive, seeing the merits of what Rifkind had to offer but needing to toe the line. ‘Having been divorced twice and with four children and two stepchildren, I was not financially well-off enough to be out of work.’ Derek Brewer, his successor, it seemed, was better at knowing his place. Sale has been busy with his recording machine. Though several with important roles turned him down, the leading players on both sides of the internal and external squabbles have