The Worcester Warriors are scheduled to host their first home game of the season this Sunday against 2020 double winners Exeter
Worcester Warriors owners have agreed the terms of the sale of the troubled Premiership club.
Players, staff and fans have been worried for a month that Warriors might fold to one Resolution request from HMRC over an unpaid £6million tax bill.
But co-owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring say they’re now happy the sale can go through.
They are also working with the prospective buyer to “deposit significant funds immediately.”
The cash injection would mean their first home Premiership game of the season against the Exeter Chiefs can take place on Sunday.
“The heads of office are now with the legal representatives of the respective parties, who are going through the details of the agreement,” the club said in a statement.
“By 5pm BST on Tuesday 13 September, the contract titles are yet to be signed.
“We will give another update on Wednesday on both the sale of the club and this weekend’s games.”
After fears they might not even start the season, the Warriors started the new season with a 45-14 loss at London Irish on Saturday.
They wore last season’s jersey because this season’s jersey is ordered and ready but not yet paid for.
They used a bus to travel to the game, the bill of which was footed by one of the club’s main sponsors, Adam Hewitt.
Warriors, whose court date was reportedly set for October 6, will also have to pay back £14million in Sports Survival Package monies as sanctioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport during the Covid pandemic.
Warriors co-owner Jason Whittingham (right) took charge of the Worcester Warriors in December 2018
In total, their debts are said to total £25 million. But the deal with the as yet unnamed “interested party” would, subject to Rugby Football Union approval, secure their status both in the short term – allowing debts to catering staff, stewards and suppliers to be settled – and in the long term.
Co-owners Whittingham and Goldring were under pressure to put the club into administration – both by a group of local MPs and a consortium led by former Warriors general manager Jim O’Toolewho made this a key condition of any sale.
But in an exclusive interview with ` Hereford & Worcester last week, Whittingham referred to people “jumping up and making a lot of noise” while pointing out that if the club goes into administration, creditors – including many local ones – are creditors – would not be paid in the end.
Whittingham also said one of the reasons was the transfer of money to employees for their August Wage payments had taken so long were the automated bank security procedures that have become commonplace for both personal and business account holders in recent years.
How warriors changed hands
Worcester began its journey of trying to become a force in English club rugby when local multi-million dollar kettle maker Cecil Duckworth got involved in 1997.
He injected the funds that led to a first promotion to the Premier League in 2004 under manager John Brain.
But the Warriors never really progressed from there, being relegated twice and never finishing higher than eighth in their 16 years in the top flight.
In that time, Exeter, a club of a similar caliber, have won the Premiership twice and conquered Europe.
Longtime benefactor Duckworth scaled back his involvement in 2013 when Sixways Holdings Limited took over under Greg Allen.
Duckworth remained on the new board as club president until his death in 2020.
By then the club had been resold to a four-person consortium fronted Jed McCrory in October 2018, but he left in June 2019, Let Whittingham and Goldring on top.
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