The owners of Worcester Warriors rugby club have written to all members of staff claiming that reports of imminent administration for the club are false and denying allegations that they might be asset-stripping the stricken Premiership club.
“Any articles that we are in administration,” Colin Goldring, co-chairman of the club alongside Jason Whittingham, wrote in an email to their employees, “or going into administration tonight, tomorrow, next week etc are all untrue. Our decision on advice from our advisors is we should not be going into administration at this point, there are still viable options on the table being actively pursued.”
Worcester were served with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs last week, claiming a late VAT payment of £320,000. Their total tax bill is thought to be £6m.
Goldring categorically denies any accusations of malpractice, arguing that the proceeds of recent sales of adjoining land went towards paying a month’s worth of the staff’s wages.
“The accusation that we have been asset-stripping is completely false. The changes in some land parcels including the sale of the pitches over the canal and mortgage on the land we’re supposedly stripping away, which Jason and I personally guaranteed, all went into paying your wages last month and the month before when we had a delay on our long term funding.”
Goldring insisted that the beleaguered duo continue to do their best by the club. “We took the personal liability and risk to ensure everyone was paid because we could see the long term funding was only weeks away from completing. If we wanted to walk away with the land and stadium we could have done so with impunity at the start of the Covid lockdown before we incurred millions in taxes on everyone’s wages with no income from supporters and with Covid to blame. We took the decision to carry on through Covid and then after lockdown because we believed in our long term plans and because we care deeply for the club and the Warriors family, all of you.
“It’s not true that any of the group’s structuring is for our own gain, everything post Covid was done under close scrutiny and the separation of the stadium from the development land as part of the Covid loans was in part to protect it and ensure we could do something to stop the huge losses the club has been suffering since lockdown, almost £400,000 a month. If a buyer offered to fund and continue the club only if we sold the whole site then we would.”
The search for new investors continues.
