Players told at lunchtime that Wasps have gone into administration

Cash-strapped Wasps will fall into administration in the coming days after their attempt to play for time to seek out fresh investment didn’t come to fruition quickly enough. RugbyPass understands that players and staff were informed of this latest development at a lunchtime meeting at the club’s training ground in Henley-in-Arden.

There had been grave fears about the future of Wasps after it emerged on September 21 that the club had notified the High Court of its intention to appoint an administrator. This was viewed as a play for additional time in order to see if they could secure a takeover bid.

A second notification to appoint an administrator was filed on October 4 and players and staff were addressed at the training ground the following day by CEO Stephen Vaughan and COO Chris Holland.

Director of rugby Lee Blackett said shortly after that visit: “We were updated today personally by Stephen Vaughan and Chris Holland who were both down and they both gave us where we were. They explained about filing that second notice of intention to appoint administrators. They talked about interested parties, they were very honest with the group. Positive at the same time as well as being honest.

“At the moment everything they have said to us has always been the 100 per cent truth. They have got the full backing of everyone here. They have given us nothing to say they are not being completely honest. We are completely behind them. There is a feeling here we are all in this together. It is not an us and them.”

Wasps proceeded to play last Sunday’s match versus Northampton as planned but they continued to be dogged this week by worrying speculation about the state of their finances and concerns that this Saturday’s match at Exeter might not go ahead. That match has now been postponed and a scheduled media conference with coach Blackett was also cancelled.

Wasps currently face a winding up order from HM Revenue and Customs for £2million in unpaid tax next week and are also struggling to repay the £35m bond that was raised to help finance their relocation from High Wycombe to Coventry in 2014 that was due in May 2022.

The penalty for a Premiership club falling into administration is relegation to the Championship, a fate that happened just last week to Worcester. The RFU, though, decided later on Wednesday only to suspend Wasps from participating in the Premiership until further notice.