Wasps have become the second Premiership club to enter administration
(Picture: PA)As the dust started to settle on another Premiership club going into administration and 167 people walked out of the door at Wasps, the big question was: what is next for the two-time European champions?
On Sunday, the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, said rugby’s model is broken and clubs have been living been beyond their means. A day later and that was brought home again in savage fashion when virtually everyone from Joe Launchbury down at Wasps was cast onto the saturated job market. Throw in some Worcester players being available still, leading internationals, like Mike Brown, who could not get contracts in the summer, and there are more bodies than vacancies.
Sweeney talked about central contracts, restructuring the league and reducing the clashes between international and club games so Premiership spectators could see the star players more often. But those changes would not come in until 2024-25 and Wasps staff, with bills to pay, need a way out of the mire now.
The big names like Launchbury, Alfie Barbeary and Jack Willis should have no problems finding employment, albeit after taking a pay cut. All three have World Cup aspirations and have been told by the RFU if they move abroad they will still be eligible for England, so French clubs could pick up some of the slack, or the Japanese league.
Launchbury has been linked with Harlequins, who rejected him as a youngster, and Willis with London Irish and Bristol. Those further down the food chain, the second and third choices, will struggle to get a new gig quickly.
Andrew Sheridan, of the administrators FRP, was making confident noises the club could be saved but admitted time was against them and who knows what form it could be saved in.
“Things can happen quickly and they need to,” said Sheridan. “Something will have to happen remarkably quickly for them to stay in the Premiership, because the people who run the competition won’t allow them to miss many more fixtures. All things are possible but that is a tough ask. We have to find someone who wants to take the rugby forward.”
What we do know is they will be relegated to the Championship for the start of next season. That can be reversed if Wasps can prove their insolvency was not their fault and Covid was to blame for a dramatic loss of income but there is also the £35million bond to worry about. A new backer would have to be a Wasps fanatic with deep pockets or someone with a masterplan to grow the rugby business while putting together a new squad.
As it stands, they have no players, no coaches, no kit man, no physios and no analysts, as the company which employed them, Wasps Holdings Ltd, was put into administration.
Arena Coventry Ltd, which owns the ground, casino and hotel has put in notice to appoint administrators, which gives them two weeks’ grace. That means it can continue operating and bring in cash, Coventry City FC can play there, and it is due to host a Rugby League World Cup match, but if that is sold Wasps would no longer be primary tenants, and that is where the problems all started at Adams Park more than a decade ago.
A move back to London and a potential merger with London Irish has been mooted, but Irish quickly denied that at the weekend. However, they are on the market to the right buyer and other clubs are in financial trouble.
There are only 11 teams left standing in the Premiership after the demise of Worcester and Wasps. A 10-team league, with a strong second tier, would seem to be the preferred way forward for the RFU and cynics might suggest they only need one more club to go to the wall and they would be there.
The Wasps name will probably survive all this, but what the club will look like is anyone’s guess.
