Yorkshire are preparing to sack up to 16 members of staff, including head coach Andrew Gale and director of cricket Martyn Moxon, as a result of their roles in the club’s mishandling of the Azeem Rafiq affair.
Sportsmail has learned that the majority of the club’s coaching and medical teams, as well as some back-office staff, are set to go in a mass clearout as Yorkshire seek a fresh start after being widely accused of fostering a culture of institutional racism at Headingley — a term accepted by former chairman Roger Hutton.
Lord Patel has been appointed the chairman of the changeover, following the resignation last month by chief executive Mark Arthur.
Gale was terminated last month due to the posting of an antisemitic tweet. Moxon is now on sick leave because of stress.
But while they will both depart, former England batsman Gary Ballance is set to survive — for now — despite having admitted calling Rafiq a ‘P**i’ on numerous occasions.
No players are expected to leave in the club’s purge of staff.
Yorkshire is planning to fire up to 16 staff members as part of their rebuilding efforts.
Andrew Gale, Coach was expelled last month after a historic tweet. He will now be leaving
Yorkshire is still working on some of their severance agreements, but they are optimistic that the whole process will soon be completed to allow them to rebuild.
Yorkshire will have to make a strong run next season due to the lack of medical and coaching staff.
In addition to removing individuals who failed to act on Rafiq’s repeated complaints of suffering racial abuse, Yorkshire hope that taking decisive action will help build bridges with the ECB, who have stripped them of international cricket next summer.
As well as wanting to regain one of England’s Tests against New Zealand and a one-day international v South Africa, the club are eager to avoid further punishment from the national governing body — they could relegate them to the second division of the County Championship when the 2022 fixtures are published next month.
Yorkshire has been hit hard by the loss of international matches and the fact that many of its sponsors have cut ties, which cost the club millions of pounds.
Yorkshire did not respond to questions on Thursday night.
In the aftermath of Azeem Rafiq’s racism scandal, the county cricket club is taking the brunt