Worcester Warriors: Preferred bidders Atlas submit improved offer for club
- Published
Former Worcester Warriors CEO Jim O'Toole has worked as a sports consultant since exiting Sixways in 2017
Atlas Worcester Warriors, the preferred bidders for the relegated former Premiership club, have submitted an improved offer to take over at Sixways.
After having their first offer rejected by the Rugby Football Union on 16 December, Warriors' administrators Begbies Traynor then set a deadline of 13 January for any further bids.
Ex-Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond is still understood to be keen.
But it is likely that it is between him and Atlas, headed by Jim O'Toole.
Former Warriors chief executive O'Toole and businessman and James Sandford have a consortium backed by American investors.
Their consortium were first chosen as preferred bidders on 30 October ahead of a rival consortium headed by Diamond and a previously unnamed ally, the old club's main sponsor, local Hartlebury-based businessman Adam Hewitt.
Atlas were then allowed a further two weeks to finalise their offer on 29 November, only to be told on 16 December by the RFU that their hope to return as a Championship club next season had been rejected.
But, after comfortably making the 17:00 BST Friday deadline, Atlas Worcester Warriors bosses O'Toole and Sandford have now spoken to BBC Hereford & Worcester to give a rough outline of their future plans - as a community-orientated club.
"Friday at 5pm was the deadline the administrators Begbies have set for full and final offers for the acquisition of the suite of assets, the land, the club and the stadium," said O'Toole.
James Sandford played at lock for Ulster, Rotherham, London Irish, Cornish Pirates and London Welsh
"We have submitted that offer and are now waiting for that process to complete. We are now waiting to see where we stand.
"We have said from day one that the physical assets have to be used for commercial development to help fund the rugby club.
"Equally, the venue itself needs to be used in a different way, to deepen our relationship and role in the community.
"We have a raft of ideas, not just about rugby, to make Sixways the hub of this community."
Sandford added that they were vey much encouraged by contact from the RFU on Thursday night.
"The RFU have reached out to us to re-engage around certain elements that we weren't able to agree with previously," said Sandford. "We take that as a step forward.
"We have continued to focus on rugby as well as the community during this whole process, while the administrators waited on other offers and bids to come through.
"But we have always been committed to returning elite level rugby to Worcester."
Jim O'Toole and James Sandford were talking to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Felicity Kvesic.