Worcester’s debts include £16.1m in public debt from the Covid Sports Survival plan, over £5.8m to ticket holders, retailers, businesses and banks linked to the club, £2.1m in unpaid taxes to HMRC, £6.8 m of payment and beyond. £2m for former owners
Last Updated: 21/11/22 1:29pm
A regulator’s report has revealed Worcester Warriors’ debts total £30m
A detailed report by manager Begbies Traynor has revealed Worcester Warriors’ total debts total £30m, as the relegated Premier League club continues its search for a new buyer.
Former Worcester manager Jim O’Toole has an opportunity to complete the takeover, with a report sent to the club’s creditors revealing that O’Toole and James Sandford’s partnership have paid £500,000 to negotiate until the end of November.
The report also claims that former Warriors owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring are said to still owe the club more than £2m.
The findings show that O’Toole’s partnership with Sandford has already invested more than $1m in the club, and has paid off a $634,000 loan taken out on land at Sixways that was taken over by the previous owners.
WRFC Players Ltd – the company that held the contracts of Worcester Warriors players and other staff – has been wound up in the High Court.
WRFC Players Ltd – the company that held the contracts of Worcester Warriors players and other staff – has been wound up in the High Court.
A final plea was heard regarding unpaid tax of around $6m, and the result resulted in the contracts of Worcester’s players being terminated immediately.
Worcester were then suspended from the rest of the Gallagher Premiership and forced to relegation to the Championship was confirmed by the RFU.
Former owners Goldring and Whittingham were disqualified from being directors of the company for 12 months following a court ruling in Cardiff in October for failing to file accounts for the financial year until 28 February 2021.
In a recent report, Begbies Traynor confirms that the club owes the government £16.1m from the Covid Sports Survival plan, and still owes £2.1m in unpaid tax to HMRC.
Worcester and Wasps both went into relegation and were relegated from the Premiership within two weeks.
Ticket holders, retailers, businesses and banks linked to the club are also owed more than $5.8m, while WRFC Players Ltd owed $6.8m before bankruptcy.
Management has also confirmed that even if all of Worcester’s assets are sold, the expected proceeds will not be sufficient to cover existing liabilities.
Joint inspector Palmer said in the report that the money owed to HMRC is “highly likely” to be repaid, while the Government’s debt will be taken over by a future buyer.
