Worcester Warriors: 'The clock's ticking', warns ex-player Jonny Arr
- Published
Jonny Arr retired from rugby at the end of the 2018-19 season after 149 Premiership games for Warriors
Former Worcester Warriors scrum-half Jonny Arr is concerned time is running out for his old club as it strives to avoid going into administration.
The Premiership club have been served by a winding-up petition from HMRC over unpaid tax, believed to be over £6m.
The club have now cancelled their own pre-season media day next Tuesday - and are also not expected to attend the annual Premiership launch on Wednesday.
"Communication has been lacking. That's the source of most concern," said Arr.
"From my understanding, it's pretty clear that the players and the staff, who are continuing to go into work day in, day out, know very little."
An attempt to involve an American-funded consortium, led by former Warriors chief executive Jim O'Toole, was announced on Tuesday.
O'Toole said then that "our guys are ready to move quickly and, if the other side are ready to move as quickly, it's achievable".
But there has been no further update except a text from O'Toole to BBC Hereford & Worcester saying that "a lot of very hard work is being done by our team".
'A lot of unknowns'
Arr, like many Warriors players, ex-players and supporters, is now increasingly worried about the club's future, with the new Premiership season just a fortnight away.
An apologetic 1300-word explanatory statement was issued to staff and players late on Thursday night by owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring - but Arr remains sceptical.
"It's come quite late in the day," he told BBC Hereford & Worcester. "They have openly admitted that they haven't been great on the communication side of things.
"They've obviously offered their reasons for what has happened but there's still a lot that hasn't been said. There are a lot of unknowns surrounding this.
"The clock's ticking and time's going to tell in this matter. There's a lot riding on this. Every supporter just wants a positive outcome.
"It's a really sad and worrying time for everyone involved. You've only got to look at how the club has grown over the last 30 years from a small local rugby club into the Premiership force that it now is.
"It is a massive concern that the club is now under threat."
Worcester Warriors are scheduled to start the new Premiership season on 10 September
Financier Whittingham and lawyer Goldring, who were already directors of EFL football club Morecambe, became co-owners of Warriors in December 2016.
Warriors confirmed last week that they have been in dialogue with HMRC over their tax bill. They insisted then that they were on the brink of new funding and had suffered "unavoidable delays" due to key individuals in the process having been hit by Covid-19 in recent weeks.
BBC Hereford & Worcester reported that several local businesses had been owed money by the Premiership club, while players and staff are understood to have suffered late payments on four separate occasions this year.
Warriors' problems have come at a time when Midlands rivals Wasps have also been in dialogue with HMRC - and there has been newspaper speculation over the financial health of other Premiership clubs.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed this week that a combined £124m was loaned out to Premiership clubs during the height of the Covid pandemic as sports survival payments. Of that, Warriors received a reported £14m, understood to be the largest share.
Warriors get backing from local politicians
The mass local groundswell of support for Warriors was given a boost following the publication of a joint statement on Friday afternoon from two Worcestershire MPs, Robin Walker and Harriett Baldwin, Wychavon District Council, Worcester City Council, Worcestershire County Council and the Worcester Warriors Action Group.
Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston, the MP for Mid Worcestershire, also attended the meeting, but was unable to sign the joint statement in case it might be perceived to be in conflict with his ministerial responsibilities.
The statement read: "We will do all we can to retain professional, elite rugby at Sixways and protect the extraordinary legacy of the late Cecil Duckworth and his family.
"We call on the current Warriors owners to act in the best interests of the club, the players, the staff, the fans and the community, including the Warriors Community Foundation. It is essential that the club and all of its property assets remain linked.
"While we recognise that there are significant opportunities for development at the Sixways site, we believe these need to be utilised for the purpose of sustaining the rugby club and the wider ambitions of the local sporting community.
"As a point of clarification in relation to the car park, Worcestershire County Council has a lease on the car park until 2057 and will be retaining that interest, with match day parking arrangements remaining in place. There is no intention of surrendering that lease.
"We are all very clear that we are prepared to work supportively with potential investors to find a positive outcome."