Worcester Warriors: Owners claim players 'would not accept any pay cut'
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Worcester Warriors have been in dialogue with HMRC over an unpaid tax bill since mid-August
Worcester Warriors' owners have accused some players of "not accepting any pay cut", with the club's future at risk.
And they said the Premiership side did not have enough regular fans to be "financially viable".
The statement on behalf of Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham was in response to a TV interview by captain Ted Hill in which he said the owners should apologise for the club's state.
Worcester were placed in administration and suspended from playing on Monday.
The club, which has debts totalling more than £25m, including at least £6m in unpaid tax, failed to meet a Rugby Football Union deadline requesting proof of insurance cover and funding for the club's monthly payroll, which resulted in them being suspended from all competition.
Addressing "staff, supporters and the community of Worcester Warriors", the owners said: "We are sorry to you all that the club is in this current position, and for the emotional distress this must have caused.
"But we remain hopeful, through the process of administration, that the club can find a new owner and emerge in a stronger position in order to preserve rugby at Sixways."
The statement followed an ITV Central interview with Hill in which he said an apology was required "from not only the owners, but also from other people high up from the company as well".
The owners' statement added: "We are thankful to those supporters who turned up week in, week out to support the club but sorry that there were not more, nor enough of you on a regular basis to help make the club financially viable, despite the significant personal funds we put into the club.
"We are sorry that we did not have the foresight during the pandemic to cut back on the squad budget, but instead remained committed to giving the club the best chance of being competitive.
"We are thankful to all of the staff that supported the club through Covid in accepting a significant reduction in their salary, but sorry that the playing squad could not accept a similar level of reduction.
"And in some players' instances would not accept any pay cut at all despite our openness at the financial impact this would have on the club."
Worcester forward Matt Kvesic told BBC Radio 5 Live he was "raging" when he read the statement from the owners.
"It's almost laughable," he said. "It's just so far away from the truth. The players did take a pay cut during Covid times and they [the owners] were involved in that process. It's also pretty mad for them to blame fans for not turning up.
"It's so out of touch with what is going on at the club, it's embarrassing.
"The last time I saw them [the owners] was when we won the Premiership Rugby Cup last season. Since then we have had intermittent emails come through mostly talking about pay for the last month which was promised and then significantly delayed. I've had no correspondence since.
"The authorities must have some accountability, they accepted them as owners in the first place.
"This is not the players' fault, not the staff's fault. I hope there is leniency whatever the sanctions are."
Warriors supporter Steve Lloyd, from Worcester Rugby Football Club - the city's amateur side - told BBC Hereford & Worcester he was astonished.
"It beggars belief if they think that's what needs to be said," he said. "The arrogance of it, to put the blame for their failings on to the players, the fans, and the staff, who've all committed themselves to the club. I can't get my head round it."
Warriors face exodus of unpaid players
Meanwhile, Warriors' administrators have said they expect unpaid players to serve the club with breach of contract notices.
Julie Palmer, from Begbies Traynor, has now had it verified that players and staff are paid by WRFC Players Ltd and not WRFC Trading Ltd, which is the company now in administration.
It was not until Thursday evening when club wi-fi was restored at Sixways that Palmer received this key information.
Players and staff were then not paid their September wages on Friday.
"My understanding is that the wages aren't being paid and there are no funds to do that," Palmer told BBC Sport. "So I imagine the RPA (Rugby Players' Association) will now be advising the players to serve 14 days' notice of termination of their contract."
This could be overtaken by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs' winding-up petition against WRFC Players Ltd next week. That is due to be heard in the High Court in London on Wednesday, 5 October, which is also the deadline for non-playing staff.
"If nothing happens, and I can't see that it will at the moment," added Palmer, "I understand from the directors that the HMRC will proceed with the intention to wind up the company."
Warriors skipper Ted Hill has missed all four Worcester Warriors games this season with a hamstring injury
If the petition is successful and the company is liquidated, the players would then be released from their contracts.
Goldring and Whittingham, who were interviewed by the BBC on 8 September, remain directors of WRFC Players. Palmer does not believe it is possible for Begbies Traynor to also be made administrators of WRFC Players.
Warriors captain Hill told BBC Hereford & Worcester on Friday: "We want to get the club up and running and back to its former glory.
"That's the main thing. If it does that, then people will stay. But stuff happens, it's a professional sport and you have to have a plan B."
Palmer added: "In terms of the players, I imagine their agents are engaged with other clubs to put them into playing contracts elsewhere."
Staff relaunch Go Fund Me page
Warriors staff have appealed to the public for money, as some face another month without pay, through a Go Fund Me page, external originally set up last month after they went through similar troubles - but some have been given work in the short term by the Begbies Traynor administration team.
Palmer added: "While I appreciate the uncertainty and focus has been on the players, we mustn't forget the staff that are employed, many of whom were only paid 65% of their wages for the prior month, and for some, even less than that.
"We've kept a skeleton staff of about half a dozen people to support the purposes of the administration. We'll pay them for the assistance of the administration on a consultancy basis.
"We are working very long hours. We're moving on a tight timescale due to the reality of the club's administration.
"There are a number of events due to be held in the upcoming weeks and months. If we can get going on the events side of the business, that would give us an opportunity then to hopefully bring back other staff members on a consultancy basis - but I don't want to give false hope on that being huge numbers of employees."
Can Worcester stay in the Premiership?
If WRFC Players Ltd is liquidated, the Premiership club would automatically have no contracted players or staff - and would seemingly have no option but to drop out of the top flight of English club rugby.
But two consortiums, one involving former Worcester chief executive Jim O'Toole, have expressed an interest in buying the club out of administration.
Former Worcester Warriors chief executive Jim O'Toole is fronting the leading consortium hoping to take over the club
"On a positive note, we are dealing with more than one serious interest," said Palmer. "As well as a number of enquiries with people who might be interested if they can move quickly enough on this.
"There is real interest in keeping the club at Worcester going, but it's very early. It has only been three days. The focus is very much on speaking to those interested parties and seeing if we can deliver a complex transaction in the timescales we're working in.
"There's a live suspension and I've got to be mindful of the concerns of the RFU of how quickly that needs to be dealt with, and if we are going achieve a sale of the business I need to factor in timescales to suit them, so the focus is on whether we can find a solution that brings longer-term viability.
"We also have the concerns of Premiership Rugby. They have concerns over whether a club could play again this season and want to protect the integrity of the league.
"It's why I've had to stress the message to interested parties that we've got weeks to work here, if not to deliver a final transaction, to make meaningful progress so that everybody can get a time extension that will allow us to get over the line."
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