Kent’s Chief Executive Jamie Clifford is keeping an open mind as to whether the club will be bringing in some new signings over the winter.

At the end of the last campaign, Kent saw both Simon Cook and Chris Piesley leave the club with all-rounder Azhar Mahmood allowed to leave one year into a two year contract to explore other options around the world.

Despite parting Kent in September, Mahmood could well return to play for the county at some stage next summer with Kent retaining first option on signing him for the Twenty 20 Cup.

With a few gaps in the playing squad, Kent are known to be looking at all available options this winter with Jamie Clifford confirming to KSN that they are exploring the option of switching Brendan Nash’s status from an overseas signing to a Kolpak one, allowing them to bring in another overseas signing next summer:

“There’s speculation about Brendan’s status and we will see how that evolves. I think the message at the moment is that we will keep our options open, look who is in the market and take them on a case by case basis.”

“I think that’s a better way of doing it and was kind of the way we recruited our players last winter, bearing in mind Charlie Shreck was the first one signed in September and the last one was Mark Davies in March.”

“You don’t have to rush into things in the first few weeks of the close season. We keep an eye on who might be coming to the UK as an overseas signing and that’s all part of a sensibly managed club.”

“I think it would be very unwise to nail your colours to the mast too early, but similarly it would be wrong to say there’s  nobody out there that could add value, because clearly that’s not the case, so we have a watching brief at the moment.”

Despite the three departures from the club, Kent moved fast to secure twelve other players’ futures with them all agreeing new contracts and Clifford told KSN how he felt that can only bring stability after previous winters that have seen so many people coming and going:

“I think stability is important to any organisation. It’s nice to know where you stand and who you are working with. We obviously had a bit of a scramble, although it was a structured scramble for players last winter and we started with our long list of seventy players.”

“Having come out where we came out this year, there was a case of trying to get that stability and not have too much turbulence and it does feel better this year that that’s all done.”

“Last year we were recruiting a Head Coach at this time and it should mean that there will be a greater period of planning going into next season.”

“That should allow us to hit the ground running and we’ll be in a better position to achieve our objectives. Last year, and I think we were doing a reasonable job, we were doing it a bit on the hoof. Jimmy was not appointed until Christmas and then didn’t arrive into the UK until February.”

“That was no fault of his own and that’s what happened. We had new players arriving at the club, having to sort out accomodation for them, so this year I think we feel a bit more structured, a bit more stable and a bit more organised.”

Looking back at this last season, Clifford was left to reflect on a season that was full of so many near misses, but was positive on the future of Kent Cricket:

“From a cricketing perspective, it was a season where we made progress, but it was a bit disappointing. You go into every season aiming to get promoted and you aim to get to the knockout stages of One Day competitions, so ultimately I think there is a sense of frustration, which I actually think is a very healthy thing.”

“I sense from the players and the coaching staff a desire to go one better next year. That’s exactly what I think is happening and I don’t think there is anything wrong with us thinking that we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve.”

“There are factors into what happened and probably the weather was a big one, but every county struggled with the weather. We fell short and that’s something we’ve got to put right.”

“The preparation for the new season starts as soon as the old season finishes and the plans the players have for what they are doing through the winter, the fitness programs and the cricket sessions are all mapped out.”

“It’s certainly not the case that the players put their feet up for three or four months and wait for pre-season to start.”

Away from cricket, Kent will need to put the financial issues with the wettest summers on record behind them quickly with the Chief Executive confirming the club were exploring all options open to them to claw back lost funds, with events such as the Fireworks night at the St Lawrence Ground on Friday 2nd November one of those fans encouraged to support:

“Off the field, we have a very clear plan of what we are trying to achieve. Clearly, we got knocked off course in the summer by the weather. Losing the games at the time that we did and in the manner that we did, and having washed out days or being two overs too many for an insurance pay out was very frustrating.”

“We have got to work hard now throughout the winter to get back on track. All sorts of things come into that including our membership and ticketing strategy for next year, along with our out of season events and working with our commercial partners.”

Finally, the club are set to undertake another change at Canterbury with the club’s offices set to move from the top of the drive to the new facility where Sainsburys are housed with Clifford telling KSN how he believes the short move across the ground for admin staff will happen sooner rather than later:

“It will happen at some point because the existing offices will be demolished and we will have to move at some point. There will be a period of upheaval and that’s why we keep putting it off, but there will come a stage when we just have to bite the  bullet and face the fact that the phones and IT will be down for a period.”

“We’ll plan it and try and minimise the disruption when it does happen, but we should have it done at some point by the New Year.”