Matt Rogerson: Leicester Tigers back rower reflects on London Irish demise
- Published
Matt Rogerson made more than 100 appearances for London Irish
Former London Irish back rower Matt Rogerson says he felt responsible for being unable to help the former Premiership club survive.
The 30-year-old joined Leicester Tigers in July, a month after Irish filed for administration.
Rogerson said he "helped try broker" a deal with new owners, which failed to materialise and sealed the club's demise.
"I did feel like I let people down," Rogerson told BBC Radio Leicester.
"It was a stressful time for me personally trying to help broker that transaction, as far as I was able to in my position, but then ultimately not be able to save it in the end.
"I felt a lot of responsibility within that process and carried a lot of weight.
"So when things did eventually turn south, I didn't only lose my own job but everyone else had as well. I felt, strangely, that I had let them down even though, looking back, I couldn't have controlled it.
"I wasn't in a position to save the club myself, but was there more I could have done?"
'A crazy three months'
Rogerson says the collapse of Irish was "a difficult and very emotional time" and that everyone that was linked to the club when it went out of business is "still impacted" by it months later.
He had been at Irish for five years and had signed a new two-year deal with the club before it became the third Premiership side to financially collapse last season.
Despite the earlier demise of Worcester Warriors and Wasps, Rogerson says Irish's downfall came as a shock.
"It was a nuts, kind of crazy three months," he said. "I don't think anyone expected it to go the way it did.
"In my role as captain I was privy to conversations that others weren't.
"It seemed, at the time, that it was going in a positive direction. We had a willing seller and, at the time, what appeared to be a willing buyer. It appeared that there was a direction forward for the club and then it all got a little messy with the money and the unpaid salaries came into it.
"That's why deadlines are imposed and then deadlines were not met. It is a slippery slope from there and things spiralled out of control quickly from there."
A month after the club went into administration Rogerson moved to Tigers alongside Irish team-mate Joe Powell, and says he is grateful for the opportunity at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
"We had little time to sit on our sorrows because we had to move on as players to try to find other opportunities," Rogerson added.