Worcester Warriors: Ex-owners Jason Whittingham & Colin Goldring disqualified from being directors

Jason Whittingham (right) took over as co-owner of Worcester Warriors in 2019

Ex-Worcester owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring have been disqualified as company directors for 12 months following a court hearing.

Whittingham, 51, and Goldring, 38, were each fined £660 and ordered to pay £100 costs for failing to file accounts for the financial year to 28 February 2021.

The paperwork should have been submitted by 30 November 2021 to the Registrar of Companies in Cardiff.

Neither Whittingham nor Goldring were present at Cardiff Magistrates Court.

The verdicts were proven in their absence. They have until Friday 11 November to pay the fines.

Their addresses were recorded as Sixways Stadium, Warriors Way, Hindlip.

The case, held last Friday (14 October), dealt with the accounts for Worcester Sport Limited, one of the various companies owned by Whittingham and Goldring.

Another, WRFC Players Limited, was wound up in the High Court in London on 5 October, while WRFC Trading Limited, remains in administration.

Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring (right) took part in a promotional sleep-out in support of the homeless at Sixways in 2020

The terms of the court order are that Whittingham and Goldring have been disqualified from being directors of a company, a liquidator or administrators of a company, a receiver or manager of a company's property and in any way, whether directly or indirectly, concerned or taking part in the promotion, formation or management of a company, for 12 months.

The disqualification period begins on Friday 4 November.

Warriors' total debts at the time of the main part of the club going into administration on 26 September were understood to total more than £25m.

The first legal proceedings were triggered by HMRC, for a sum just over £6m, while a further £15m is owed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the combined £124m loaned to Premiership clubs at the height of the Covid pandemic as sports survival payments.

Warriors' administrators Begbies Traynor are still awaiting the result of their appeal against their suspension and relegation from the Premiership.

They have so far lost 13 of their existing players to other clubs.

• Bath: Ollie Lawrence, Fergus Lee-Warner and Ted Hill, Valery Morozov (both on loan)

• Edinburgh: Duhan van der Merwe

• Bristol: Joe Batley

• Ulster: Rory Sutherland

• Northampton: Fin Smith

• Saracens: Tom Howe, Andrew Kitchener

• Gloucester: Alex Hearle, Seb Atkinson, Finn Theobald-Thomas

RFU back Warriors women

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney says they are taking steps to help Worcester Warriors' women's team achieve their aim of playing in the Allianz Premier 15s next month.

The new format of the competition has given the University of Worcester Warriors some valuable time to try to source a new investor as the league season does not start until November.

Sweeney says their immediate concerns are with Warriors players Laura Keates and Lydia Thompson, both of whom are with the England squad at the World Cup in New Zealand.

"We are in discussion with Laura and Lydia here and offering support and counselling on that," said Sweeney.

"In Worcester's case, we are in conversations with any potential bidders to make sure that the women's team is protected and funded.

"Maintaining that club and making sure they are able for them to start the Premier 15s is a priority for us."

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