Yorkshire's new chief executive, Stewart Regan, is determined to exploit the rising feel-good factor in cricket which has been brought about by England winning the Ashes last summer, writes David Warner.

But he said yesterday that he believed Yorkshire at the moment were living in the shadows of what Durham had achieved at Riverside over the past few years.

Regan, 41, who was born in Crook, County Durham, said: "I grew up knowing Durham as a Minor County and kids of my generation are now seeing them as a top first class club with fantastic facilities and their own Test cricketers.

"Durham have come on in leaps and bounds and perhaps Yorkshire are almost living in the shadows of what their neighbours have done."

Like Durham, Yorkshire gained promotion in the Championship last season and he feels that the club is perfectly placed to start capitalising and benefiting financially from all that has been achieved over the past 12 months.

Regan, who is currently managing director of the Football League Championship, met the cricket staff at Headingley Carnegie Stadium for the first time yesterday and he hopes to be able to take up his post by Easter.

After holding top jobs with two brewery companies for most of the time since graduating from Hull University with a degreee in American Studies, Regan joined the Championship two years' ago.

His brief was to improve its image and narrow the gap with the Premiership, and last year he saw attendances for the second tier of English football soar to their highest level in over 50 years.

Now he wants to put "bums on seats" for Yorkshire and make sure that the fans have got entertaining cricket to watch.

"With interest in cricket revitalised by England, the challenge for me is to build up the Yorkshire brand even further so that it appeals to a wider part of the population and is financially successful," he said.

"Yorkshire is associated with greatness and I hope we can use the brand to build on the successes of past times.

"With the purchase of Headingley giving Yorkshire their first ground in 140 years and with Test cricket guaranteed there is an awful lot of positive news and we have to be able to build on it."