Alder chairman Paul Ryan believes stepping down to the Southport & District league is the only way to secure the club’s long-term future.

The West Derby club have voluntarily left the Love Lane Liverpool Competition after finishing eighth in Division Two this summer.

Mr Ryan cited the financial pressures of trying to compete just two flights below one of the strongest ECB Premier Leagues in the country.

And Alder’s members voted overwhelmingly to approve the step down, in the hope of finding their natural level without paying appearance fees and bonuses to players.

Mr Ryan said: “We’re a smallish club and what we haven’t got which a lot of other clubs have, is any additional income apart from subs and a bit of sponsorship. 

“Other clubs have their own bar income, they can hire their premises out.

“So we thought the decision we made was the best for the club in the long term. 

“We can go down to the Southport league, we can get our act together and get the guys enjoying playing cricket again.

“When I took over as chairman last year, I said what I want to do is be competitive in whatever league we’re in, but I don’t want to be struggling to stay in a league we’re not competitive in. 

“I want people at Alder to come together, enjoy each other’s company and enjoy playing cricket. 

“I want our teams to win, but I don’t care if it’s in the Premier Division of the Comp or Division Three of the Southport league. 

“I want us to find our level, and play at that level, without the hassle of trying to keep the club on its feet financially.”

The numbers behind the decision are stark. This season, each 1st XI game has cost the club up to £370 to put on, with officials left struggling to pay the umpires their match fee.

In addition, Alder is a multi-sports club, meaning the cricket subs sometimes fund non-cricket activities.

The practice of paying players is, Mr Ryan believes, no longer tenable at a club of Alder’s size and status.

He added: “The club was really in a terrible financial position for most of the season. 

“As a committee, we decided that next year, we were not going to pay any players – either directly through match fees, or via a bonus scheme. 

“So we knew we would lose some players – a couple we were paying, and a couple who came with them as a package deal.

“We then thought that through and realised that would mean we’d have to plug the gaps with players from the 2nd XI. 

“So we were probably going to get defeated every week, or most weeks, and we wouldn’t be competitive. 

“That’s not going to do great things for club morale, and we’d start losing other players who would go where they could enjoy their cricket more. 

“So we put all those points to the membership and the members overwhelmingly agreed with the committee’s logic.”

For those of us whose eyes are too easily dazzled by the bright lights of the top flight, Alder’s tale is a reality check. 

Northern claimed the Comp’s first ever national title this year and reached the final of another; champions Ormskirk shared the Lancashire Cup just months after one of their youth products, Tom Hartley, bowled England to a Test win in India.

Leigh’s Matty Hurst has had a fine season in the gloom surrounding Lancashire, and has been rewarded with an England Lions call-up; several other Comp players are at various points on the county pathway, and may find their progress accelerated by the Red Rose’s relegation.

Collectively and individually, the ECB Premier League is doing its job. But Mr Ryan agrees there is a knock-on effect on clubs lower down the pyramid.

He said: “Smaller clubs like ourselves just can’t compete in an environment where players are being paid, and there’s probably a trickle-down from the Premier League there. 

“Everyone is sort of fighting to keep up, and we’ve decided that’s not a game we want to play.”

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Few issues raise the temperature of club cricket discourse faster than that of paid players.

The Comp is an open league, meaning the practice is allowed – that doesn’t stop people insisting it shouldn’t be, for a variety of reasons.

No serious challenge to the status quo is on the horizon. 

But Alder’s decision will add fuel to the fire in the bellies of those who insist that exchanging quality for purity will result in a better or healthier sport.

For now, Mr Ryan knows the club will have to rely on the last crop of youngsters coached by the great Mike Dunn, who died in 2020.

And with paid players off the books, he hopes they will be able to divert more funds into the youth set-up in future.

He added: “While I’m chairman, Alder Cricket Club will not be paying any players. 

“We don’t want to go back down the road of starting again, and ending up in exactly the same position.

“Amongst the players and the members, it’s gone down really well. 

“It’s going to be positive for the club in the long run, and overwhelmingly the members have taken it on board.”