Worcester wind back to life with second-tier return and vow to clear debts
In the past clubs such as Richmond and London Welsh have been forced to start again at the foot of the English pyramid but a condition of Worcester's return to the new-look Tier 2 league is that outstanding debts to, among others, HMRC and DCMS will be settled by the end of the year. In addition, the new owners have already made substantial payments to the administrators.
Worcester are now set to take their place in a 14-team league which will include the 12 existing Championship clubs and the top side in National One, which Richmond currently lead by 10 points with three games remaining. The Warriors will be based at their old ground at Sixways, latterly used for football, and the club's owner, Christopher Holland, says the club, whose last game was against Newcastle in September 2022, has long-term aspirations to return to the Gallagher Premiership.
That scenario is slightly complicated by the fact that Holland also owns Wasps, who also went out of business in the 2022-23 season. If Wasps were also to return to the English leagues, he would only be allowed to own one club and have a stake no higher then 25% in another. There is no imminent prospect, however, of either Wasps or London Irish – the third top-tier English club to fold in recent years – returning to the Premiership, with Holland indicating the United Rugby Championship could be a likelier option.
For the time being, Holland is more preoccupied with rebooting rugby in the West Midlands, a rich breeding ground for English talent which has nurtured the current England internationals Fin Smith, Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill. 'Our budget is there or thereabouts with regards to the top five clubs [in the Championship],' said Holland. 'We are sustainable and we have planned for the resilience of this for some time. We would expect to be in the top 3 or 4, hopefully … once you've seen the teamsheet for the first time I think that'll probably answer most questions. There is a big energy to return to [the top tier] when we can afford to do so.'
Worcester, however, have had to go through 'a very detailed and challenging process' before being admitted to Tier 2. 'It was three months of going to the dentist, effectively,' said Holland. 'All through that our sustainability and business plans were tested and retested. One thing we're not going to do is overspend. We'll spend within the budget. We're fortunate that the business plans we have here have been supported by the local authority and the planning authority with regards to enabling development on the car park at Sixways. We're going to take things slowly within the budget and then hopefully we will be able to increase our spend on the squad.'
With the financial state of English club rugby still 'very fragile' to quote one insider, the return of Worcester is seen as potentially helpful in terms of boosting the profile and longer-term marketability of the league. 'The vision for this league is really ambitious and so much work and collaboration has taken place over nearly two years to establish a path towards a vibrant and self-sustaining competition,' said Simon Gillham, the Tier 2 board chair. 'Today marks a significant step forward with Worcester Warriors returning to professional rugby under new ownership in a heartland for our sport. We're really pleased [to] see their return to professional rugby as I'm sure are their fans.'
Gillham, however, conceded that readmitting Worcester would not be popular with clubs who were not allowed similar leeway in past years. 'Worcester Warriors have been a fascinating case. We knew from the outset that whichever way we decided it would be a challenging and contested decision. We knew what we were letting ourselves in for.
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'We put them through a very rigorous process which, sometimes, might have felt unfair. It was more than any other club which is in Tier 2. We demanded conditions and did not allow them any wriggle room. As a result they have provided us with a substantial financial guarantee. I think that is a first in English rugby, in terms of financial discipline and assurance.'
The longer-term hope, furthermore, is that fresh life can be breathed into the Championship and that a more collaborative relationship can be struck with the Premiership at a delicate time in the history of the professional game. 'There is quite a lot of investor fatigue around at the moment, both in the Premiership and in Tier 2,' said Gillham. 'We have to address that very, very quickly. I can't say at this stage what the solution is, but what we have to do is get into the same room and sit around the table together. This is my personal opinion but I think that if we don't have a system of aspiration and jeopardy then we will implode.'
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