Kent chairman Simon Philip hits out at social media 'attacks' and defends involvement of their players and staff in The Hundred as financial figures for year to October 2022 show loss

Chairman Simon Philip admits it’s disappointing to see Kent fans engaging in “ad hominem attacks” on social media.

Philip has spoken about the issue in his report on the club’s 2022 financial results, set to be presented to members.

“Something that seems to have been an unfortunate side effect of the pandemic is the coarsening of debate on social media,” he said.

“It has been very saddening to see some members engaging in ad hominem attacks on social media.

“While we all have views on the team’s performance, publicly directing insulting remarks at our people who have families and friends, questioning their competence, calling for their summary dismissal (in breach of employment law) and imputing that they have malign intentions, is wholly unacceptable.

“If members are ‘ashamed’ of supporting the club or believe that we should be refunding all subscriptions if we lose a few games (some of the comments during the summer), I suggest being an ‘owner’ of this great club is probably not for them.”

Philip reminds supporters of the success Kent have had in the last five years - which includes winning the Royal London One-Day Cup last year, the T20 Blast in 2021 and being promotion to County Championship Division 1 in 2018.

He added: “These results are remarkably consistent for a county that labours at a huge disadvantage to those grounds that host international and Hundred cricket.

“They are testimony to the impact that Paul Downton [director of cricket], Matt Walker [head coach] and the rest of the cricket department have had on our performance. We will lose games, as it is an inevitability of professional sport.

“It will not be through a lack of competence and members should be reminded - when questioning on social media the