Kent’s Chief Executive has told KSN how he feels the county is heading in the right direction after a busy twelve months.

Changes have been happening both on and off the field as Kent County Cricket Club looks to evolve and survive in an ever changing world.

Jamie Clifford has presided over those changes with the St Lawrence Ground at Canterbury seeing dramatic changes to the landscape with permanent floodlights having been installed in the past year with enhanced facilities in use for spectators.

On the pitch may not have turned out to have been the year that fans would have been hoping for, but Clifford is confident that Kent are heading in the right direction:

“If I look back over the last year, twelve months ago we had no prospect of the housing development happening. Canterbury City Council’s support was agreed in principal, but not tied up and no redevelopment itself.”

“A year on we have been watching a floodlit game with new facilities, members and supporters watching the game from the new Les Ames bar, so in general the off field side of the business is moving quite nicely.”

“On the cricket front, it’s been frustrating, but we will return in April with high hopes for 2012.”

“We have got a decent group of youngsters coming through and if they play to their potential we could have some exciting years ahead here at Kent.”

The success of the club hinges on sustaining an income away from cricket and Clifford told KSN how he is still ploughing ahead with finding a developer to build the hotel facilities planned for Canterbury:

“The hotel development is now in the offing and we are speaking to some potential developers about that part of the project.”

“The success of Kent in the long term involves developing our off field revenue streams and not just about what happens on the pitch.”

So, it is set to be another busy twelve months ahead for Clifford and his team as they prepare for more exciting times in the life of Kent Cricket.