Meeting

The Hampshire members have voted in favour of turning the club into a limited company. The decision to support the plan, put forward by chairman Rod Bransgrove, was taken at an extraordinary general meeting.

"It's a big step and over the next week or two, we'll be making sure that all the other arrangements, with tax advisors, Sport England and others, are concluded satisfactorily," Bransgrove explained.

"It's a complex structure at Hampshire County Cricket Club, which has evolved over many, many years.

"We need to make sure we unravel this and restructure it in a way which doesn't prejudice the company's tax position and any individual's financial position."

Hampshire are now based at their new Rose Bowl ground on the outskirts of the City at West End, having left their former Northlands Road home at the end of last season after 116 years.

The club is still £9m short of the funding required to complete the Rose Bowl, but Bransgrove believes it will eventually become one of the best cricket venues in the world.

There is a positive mood on the field as well, with Hampshire currently top of Championship Division Two.

A brand new committee to oversee the running of the club as a PLC will be taken at next year's annual general meeting.

Bransgrove, meanwhile, is encouraging members and supporters to take the opportunity to buy a financial stake when the club is ready to issue shares.

"It's a little bit difficult at the moment because the documentation one has to produce to encourage investment is very carefully policed - and that takes an enormous amount of legal and financial advice, which is very expensive.

"At this stage we want to try and get the company up and running in as inexpensive manner as possible, but nonetheless, the slightly longer term objective will be to list the business on the Alternative Investment Market.

"At that stage, certainly, members will be able to participate."

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