Worcester Warriors: Premiership club suspended for season and relegated
- Published
Players have started joining new clubs after being released from their Worcester contracts
Financially stricken Worcester Warriors have been suspended for the rest of the Premiership season and will be relegated from the top tier.
The decision was taken by the Rugby Football Union's club financial viability group to give time to find an investor and the "best chance for a long-term sustainable future".
Worcester players and staff had their contracts terminated on Wednesday when part of the club was wound up.
The club can appeal against the RFU ruling.
To be successful, the Warriors would need to show that there was no fault for their insolvency.
As well as having their Premiership campaign ended, they have also been kicked out of the Premiership Rugby Cup - a competition they won last season.
"As the club no longer has staff and players on contract, and with many seeking alternative employment, the decision has been made to focus on how the club can be viable over the long term," the RFU said in a statement.
"The decision also gives certainty to clubs to protect the integrity of the Premiership and allow their teams to plan for the rest of the season."
It added that administrators Begbies Traynor "are in discussions with several potential investors and it is expected they will also be planning for long-term sustainability".
The RFU also said work is ongoing with an unnamed potential investor to ensure the University of Worcester Warriors women's team can continue competing in the Premier 15s for the remainder of the season. However, their Allianz Cup tie against DMP Sharks on 15 October will not go ahead.
Conditions of takeover confirmed
While WRFC Players Ltd - through which players and staff were paid - has been wound up, a winding-up petition against WRFC Trading Ltd, which remains in administration, has been suspended.
It has been confirmed that a condition of any takeover deal will require the payment of all rugby creditors, including any outstanding salaries owed to staff, players and coaches.
Some staff are still owed 35% of their August wages, while some did not get paid at all, and nobody was paid for September.
Four players, including England centre Ollie Lawrence and flanker Ted Hill, had already joined Premiership rivals Bath on loan before their deals with Warriors were terminated on Wednesday.
Scotland and British & Irish Lions winger Duhan van der Merwe was the first Worcester player to then sign for another club after the High Court's ruling, rejoining Edinburgh while Joe Batley has moved back to Bristol.
HM Revenue and Customs have been pursuing Worcester for unpaid tax of about £6m.
The club also owe a reported £15m, understood to be the largest share, as part of the combined £124m loaned out to Premiership clubs by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport during the height of the Covid pandemic as sports survival payments.
'Time needed for right solution'
Julie Palmer, of Begbies Traynor, said that while they, as administrators of WRFC Trading Ltd, are disappointed by the action taken, they "fully appreciate" the stance of the RFU and Premiership Rugby.
She spoke to BBC Hereford & Worcester on Wednesday about the need to give the club better long-term financial hope - and not provide just "a sticking plaster solution".
"I am reassured they are continuing to work with us in a positive way to try and achieve a rescue to enable rugby to take place next season in a properly structured approach to enable the long-term viability and success of Worcester Warriors," she said.
Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said they needed to find "the best long-term solution" put the competition at risk.
"What is clear is that it will take much more time to get the right solution in place for the club," he said.
"Whilst we appreciate this decision will be disappointing to many people close to Warriors, we value the certainty this decision brings to the other Premiership clubs. We will now continue to work with administrator, the RFU and other key stakeholders to find the best outcome."
HMRC first issued their threat over Worcester's unpaid tax bill in mid-August
Sixways land is part of sale package
A statement from Begbies Traynor earlier on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Palmer and her colleagues Julian Pitts and Andrew Hook as joint administrators over WRFC Trading Ltd, receivers for the stadium at Sixways and Worcester Sports Ltd, another of the several Warriors-related companies owned by Goldring and Whittingham.
They have also replaced Goldring and Whittingham as directors of Mq Property Ltd.
The statement said: "This is an important step in being able to deliver the full suite of assets comprising the trading entity, the stadium and the surrounding land to enable a purchaser to move forwards with a well-funded proposition to ensure the future success of professional rugby in Worcester."
Former chief executive Jim O'Toole, who heads one of the main interested parties still looking to buy the club, had previously said this was a key proviso.
"There's things I can't go into detail at the moment," Palmer told BBC Hereford & Worcester, "for reasons of both confidentiality and complexity, in terms of the current situation, but it certainly includes the training entity.
"It also includes the stadium and we anticipate that it's also going to include all of the land surrounding the stadium. Interested parties very much have a focus on that.
"If we can do some interesting things with the land, we can generate a profit from that, which will offset the losses on the rugby playing side of the operation.
"We expect to be speaking to interested parties about a transaction that would include that whole suite of assets."
WRFC Trading Ltd Administrator Julie Palmer, from Begbies Traynor, was talking to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Andrew Easton.