THE first ten years of Clive Leach's reign as Durham chairman brought five trophies, but at 80 he has no intention of quitting.

Having been head-hunted to take on the role in 2004, a season when Durham collected their fifth wooden spoon, the former chairman and chief executive of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television has presided over a remarkable decade.

Three county titles, two one-day trophies and the staging of an Ashes Test have given him plenty of cause for satisfaction. But he hasn't finished yet.

“I don't think about my age and health,” he said. “There's a job to be done and we have to deliver for the people of the North-East. I have had a lot of big jobs and I always know when it's time to go.

“The continuing development of our ground is vital for the club and the area and we're at a fairly sensitive stage at the moment.

“I would say there are too many Test grounds now. I like to think we are one of the seven main ones. The others are peripheral and the ECB have to understand it might not be financially beneficial to take games there.

“I'm disappointed that we haven't got more big Tests in the next few years, but the one-day internationals we have are exciting. We have New Zealand this year, who are showing what they can do in the World Cup.”

Leach wants to see permanent seating at the Emirates Durham ICG raised from 16,000 to nearer 20,000 and is confident that long-standing plans for a hotel and floodlights are nearing fruition.

“We have the funding for the lights and are currently going through the requirement to hold a public consultation,” he said.

“We should have the funding for the hotel in the next few months and that's vitally important. Our conference facilities are excellent and we have a lot of companies coming for a day. With a hotel they might stay two days.

“When the development is complete it will make a big difference to our finances and to the North-East.”

Last year's accounts should be ready shortly and Leach expects them to show that the club roughly broke even, stabilising the debt at below £5m.

That is less than a quarter of Yorkshire's debt, yet the champions have splashed out on a full complement of overseas men for this season, including two for Twenty20 cricket.

There has been speculation that they are bank-rolled by the personal wealth of chairman Colin Graves, who is to be the next chairman of the ECB. But Leach said: “I know Colin well and I don't think that's the case.

“I don't have any insight into how they run their business, but we don't like a lot of debt. I believe you can't spend more than you are getting in. Our membership has been stable but gates have been up and down and you have to cut your cloth accordingly.

“It's getting harder and harder to get people in during the working day and we are looking at the IPL and the Big Bash to see what we can learn.

“Floodlights will mean we can play T20 later in the evening, which will help, but we musn't lose sight of the four-day game because that's what keeps everything going.”

Leach took over at a time when current coach, Jon Lewis, was captain of a team on which little money was spent amid accusations that all the emphasis was on ground development.

Leach was adamant that the team had to match the stadium and with Lewis coming to the end of his playing career he was replaced as captain in 2005 by Mike Hussey. Dale Benkenstein arrived at the same time and Michael Di Venuto two years later.

“The local players needed experience around them,” he said. “But one of the things we take most pleasure from is that we have one of the best, if not the best, academies. We also have one of the closest relationships with our county board and the clubs. It's essential that we maintain that. I want to see boys coming through those clubs into our academy.

“The trophies we have won are a manifestation of what we are trying to achieve. We want this to be a major centre of sport and entertainment for an area from the Tees up to Scotland and across to Cumbria. It's an area which didn't have first-class cricket and the people need a big, successful club to make sure the game is maintained and all that goes with it. We have easy access, unlike the big city Test grounds.

“I was lucky enough to inherit some very good executives with a willingness to take us forward. The club had been finding its feet for ten years and the time had come to stop being one of the minnows. We needed a step change, which is what all of us together aimed at. It wasn't just about winning trophies, it was just as important to put the venue and the area on the world map.”

Success came at a cost and during the 2012 season it was announced that Durham had owned up to exceeding the ECB's £1.8m salary cap. Leach believes they weren't the only ones, although they were the only county to be penalised.

“It certainly wasn't our intention, but we felt we had to retain certain players,” said Leach. “We spent a bit more than we would have liked and went marginally over.”

This coincided with a need for general belt-tightening, not just on the playing side, and there was some controversy when the county council, amid their own cuts, agreed to loan the club more than £2m towards the cost of a new stand ahead of the Ashes Test.

Leach was confident there would be no problem with the repayments, saying: “When you borrow money you have to be sensible about it. I've been in big business too long to want to risk people calling in their loans.

“I'm more confident about the future now. There's a job to be done and we have to complete it.

It's vital for the club and the area.

“I've no thoughts of giving up. I occasionally pop along to a cricket school near my home and I had a net there recently. I'm still seeing the ball well enough.”

Durham fans can be assured their chairman's eye remains very much on the ball.