Sussex’s acting chief executive Mark West admits the club face a “difficult task” to keep their squad together under the new financial framework agreed with the ECB.
The club recruited significantly at the end of last season, agreeing three-year contracts with Kent batter Jack Leaning and Gloucestershire duo Dom Goodman and Tom Price, as well as a player-coach deal to bring back Danny Briggs for the T20 Blast.
But the ECB have since imposed tighter financial controls on Sussex, including a player salary cap until 2028 after the club confirmed sustained operating losses, which have led to points deductions in all three competitions for this season.
“All the contracts that come up for renewal will be looked at by [head coach] Paul Farbrace and myself together,” West told BBC Radio Sussex.
“Paul has a plan – he knows where he’s going with this squad and we want to continue to develop players not just for Sussex but also England. That’s what Sussex has always been about.
“It’s a difficult task. But we have a good squad who enjoy being at Sussex. Paul will sit them down and we’ll have discussions with their agents and see where we go with this.”
Having finished fourth in the County Championship last summer, their first season at the top level since 2015, Sussex will begin the new campaign on minus 12 points, as well as being docked a point in both the T20 Blast and One-Day Cup.
West, who will be joined by Farbrace and chairman Jon Filby at a members’ forum next Monday, acknowledged that Sussex’s three-year agreement with the ECB could also lead to off-field redundancies at Hove.
“Everything is on the table, we can’t say it’s not,” he added. “We have targets, as per the framework agreement we’ve entered into, so we have to look at every cost and that’s really hard.
“I’m very sympathetic to everyone who works here and what they’re trying to do. We’ll look to restructure where we need to and find the best possible solution for the club.
“What’s important is to navigate through these choppy waters over the next weeks and months and hopefully we’ll have some success on the pitch.
“We’ve got a great group of players, a great coach and we still have the same expectations we had before we were given the points deduction.”
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