Worcester owners: 'Asset stripping accusation is completely false'

Co-owner Colin Goldring has issued a near 1,300-word statement rebutting the accusation that the Worcester Warriors club owners – himself and business partner James Whittingham – have been asset stripping at the financially troubled Gallagher Premiership club. Numerous stories have emerged this past week and a half regarding the alleged financial manoeuvrings at Sixways, including the sale of some of the stadium assets to other companies that the pair are involved in.

The inference in the stories was that the club owners were asset stripping at a time when Worcester are struggling for cash and trying to resolve the winding-up order issued by HMRC last week for an unpaid tax bill.

Goldring has insisted that no asset stripping has taken place and that the changes in some land parcels instead went into paying wages at the club last month and the month before. His statement was issued on Thursday night after an original club statement on Monday failed the clear the stink currently surrounding the Worcester owners just weeks from the September 10 start at London Irish to the new Premiership campaign.

Instead of calming the financial fears about the club, Monday’s statement only prompted further anxiety and more damaging stories about the Worcester owners. Goldring has now moved to try and be as transparent as he can about the club’s pained financial picture, insisting that claims the Warriors will go into administration are untrue. He also made a promise to improve communications.

Here is the lengthy statement from the Worcester owners in full: “Dear all. Firstly, thank you everyone for how you have handled what is such a difficult situation for us all for so many reasons.

“We are sorry this is the first time you are hearing from us directly in a while. It has been early starts and late finishes every day identifying, assessing and then moving forward with the best options available. The club’s situation is fast-moving and intensive but we are always thinking of you and aware that you, as well as supporters and the local community, will want to know everything that is going on.

“You will know already that HMRC has issued a winding-up petition for being days late on a VAT payment of £320,000. It’s heartbreaking to think we had the future funding needs of the club sorted, to cover the club’s cash needs until it was self-sustaining with income from the first phase of the development. The legal agreements were all drawn up and all parties (were) ready to sign this month. This petition has potentially prevented that loan (from) coming through.

“We can’t dwell on what has happened. We have to look forward at the best solutions available and do our best for the club, all of you and our community. Timing is tight and we are running multiple solutions to this situation simultaneously to resolve it as fast as possible.

“We have discussions with key stakeholders to push through solutions to this situation. Some of the discussions are sensitive and others have contractual confidential agreements in place so we can’t talk openly about them until whichever solution is progressed further. While we can’t share everything, we have decided to tell you what we can for now, addressing some questions and putting some untruths to bed.

“We don’t blame anyone from drawing the wrong conclusions before now because we haven’t communicated well enough or shared all the information for everyone to understand better the situation and transactions post-covid required to keep the club going and continue paying salaries.

“We are working non-stop to save the club and to protect Cecil’s legacy [Cecil Duckworth] which is personal to us because of our personal relationship with Cecil. Our vision, mission and objectives to that end still hold firm.

“Covid seriously knocked our early plans for the club, pushing them back with almost two years of lockdowns and a massive loss to the club with no supporters allowed in the stadium and no cover from our insurers. Even so, we fully supported the club and fought to retain all our staff during a very difficult situation.

“We took the decision not to make any redundancies during covid and we took on a huge debt to HMRC by keeping everyone in a job. This is the debt owed to HMRC that has been mentioned in the media, along with a recent £320,000 VAT bill we would have been days late paying had the petition not prevented us.

“We are still fighting to support the club and its staff. You are our number one priority through this and we are genuinely doing everything we can. We can’t guarantee the outcome yet but we can guarantee we will have done everything possible to save this club and your livelihoods.

“The main structure of the companies around the Warriors was put in place many years ago, some from Cecil’s period of ownership, the rest on our purchase of the club and then the covid bailout loans. The separation of the club from the Sixways stadium and surrounding land into two different companies was done as part of the purchase of the club from the previous owners over four years ago now.

“It’s absolutely not true the stadium and land were recently taken out of the club, it has been separate for our entire ownership of the club. The accusation that we have been ‘asset stripping’ is completely false. Everything we have been doing since the covid lockdown is to make the group more stable and to facilitate the development to make the club sustainable.

“The changes in some land parcels including the sale of the pitches over the canal and mortgage on the land we are 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.

“We took that personal liability and risk to ensure everyone was paid because we could see the long-term funding was only weeks away from completion. 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 the 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 is 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 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.

“On the freehold transfer of the park and ride car park specifically, which seems a favourite conspiracy theory, this relates to the middle section of the car park only. This freehold is not like the rest of our land because the rights to use it were sold to the Council as a park and ride lease by Cecil many years ago.

“We had to put a valuation on this freehold with no rights to use the land for the purposes of stamp duty on the transfer of this freehold which was estimated at £50,000. This was a transfer within the group and it wasn’t sold to anyone as the reports suggest.

“Any articles that we are in administration 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. If that situation changes and we decide the club should go into administration then we will inform you all immediately. However, we are working hard to avoid this if we can – as stated in previous communications.

“We won’t stop until we have done everything within our power to ensure the best possible outcome we can achieve for the club and for you, leaving no stone unturned.

“Uncertainty won’t help how you feel and although we will continue to dedicate our days to achieving the right outcome, we do need to get better at communicating with you and all club stakeholders as much as we can. We are setting up communication conduits with the supporters through two key people in Warriors supporter circles – Bod and Dave – but we will communicate any new information to you before we sent anything to them.

“Every day we hear examples of your dedication and commitment to the club and we know how painful this is for you. This only drives us harder to turn every stone to keep rugby at Sixways. We will keep fighting for a solution.”