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The reassuring reply for fans worried about Gloucester's finances
By Liam Heagney
George Skivington has allayed fears about the financial future of Gloucester, last season’s ninth-place Gallagher Premiership club. The professional game in England has struggled coming out of the pandemic, with top-flight clubs Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish all going bust in a nine-month period during the 2022/23 season.
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This was soon followed by the September 2023 demise of the second-tier Jersey Reds, who folded despite being Championship champions at the time. These closures have since been followed by financial speculation regarding other clubs.
It is patter that has included murmurings about the future of Gloucester. Their latest accounts for the financial year ending in June 2023 emerged in March this year showing a turnover of £18,162,660, up from £17,035,172 the previous year.
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However, in a report section titled ‘Going Concern’, it stated: “The directors have prepared forecasts for the period to 30 June 2025 which indicate that subject to securing additional funding which the directors are confident in obtaining, and the continued support of the club’s sponsorship partners, bankers and shareholders, none of which is guaranteed, the company will have sufficient resources to enable it to continue trading until the end of the forecast period.”
It added: “The company along with other Premiership clubs are currently in negotiation with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in relation to the repayment profile of the loan received from Sport England during the covid lockdown.
“Interest and capital repayments are currently scheduled to commence in September 2025. At the time of approving the financial statements there are no guarantees that the repayment profile will be adjusted.”
The section concluded: “The financial statements do not include any adjustments that would result from insufficient facilities being made available to the company.”
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Ahead of the 2024/25 campaign which begins with a home Premiership match versus Saracens on September 21, there has been some pessimism about Gloucester’s long term future despite the high-profile signings of the likes of Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams and Christian Wade.
Director of rugby Skivington insisted to RugbyPass that Gloucester were here to stay for the foreseeable future having spent more than a year cutting the fat on what it spends. “The club is setting itself up to be sustainable and you’d like to say bulletproof but to be able to survive any bumps in the road or, like we say not be reliant on just cash coming in all the time and being written off,” he explained.
“I know that is what Gloucester is doing. I am sure there are other clubs trying to do that as well, but I don’t know how other clubs are set up and they are all different. What I do know is we have spent a year at least maybe a bit longer trying to make sure we cut the fat and don’t have any outgoings that aren’t necessary.
“We have got sometimes a little bit of a spartan workforce in the background but we take a bit of pride in that and we work really hard to it. I can only speak for Gloucester but I think we’re probably ahead of most clubs on doing that a little bit longer getting that plan in place and acting on it.
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“Now we are in the position where we understand where we are but, as I say, from a Gloucester rugby point of view, I don’t think it is going anywhere even if there was another bump down the road.”
Skivington was due at Twickenham on Wednesday for the new-season Gallagher Premiership launch that was to be followed by an afternoon media briefing on the RFU’s new men’s professional game partnership.
