It's been a busy week or so for the Supporters' Trust so perhaps time to brief Warriors' fans, given our determination to share information and to be as open to scrutiny as possible.
NATIONAL PRESS INTEREST
The highlight of my week was meeting and chatting with journalist Owen Slot in the Officers Mess at the 214 Worcestershire Battery of the Royal Artillery, followed by a swift pint at renowned rugby pub, The Alma.
Owen is now Chief Sports Writer at The Times but was previously their Chief Rugby Correspondent. He has covered every Five/Six Nations and every Rugby Union World Cup since 1995. When I was at school my "dream job" was to become a rugby journalist. Sadly my career plans took a different turn during Sixth Form but I will always admire the resilience and fortitude of those who are forced to travel around the world reporting on the sport they love.... Seriously though it must be a huge challenge to be away from family and loved ones for weeks or months on end.
University friend of Owen, Colin Scott, is a longstanding Warriors Supporter and has been badgering him to write about our plight for months. A year into administration must have seemed an apt time and, catching his breath between covering the Ryder Cup and the England v Samoa game, Owen ventured up to Worcester to meet and talk with supporters in preparation for an article set to appear, we believe, in the newspaper later this morning.
Perhaps 20 or so die-hard fans gathered to tell their stories on the corner of High Street and St Swithin's Street, while a photographer took snaps from every possible angle. Four Board members of WWST, Colin & Owen subsequently decamped to New Dancox House then across the road to The Alma to reminisce about past away trips, glorious Friday nights under the lights and the 2022/23 "what might have been team."
Link to Owen's article is below (beware paywall in situ)
ACV NOMINATION UPDATE
We shared with you the news that we had nominated Sixways Stadium as an Asset of Community Value with Wychavon District council in late August. The expectation was that we would have had a judgement on this by the end of October. This may take a little longer than first estimated due to the complexities of the various ownerships, leaseholds and tenancies linked to the stadium and surrounding land. WWST is grateful to Sara Stojanovic and the councillors at Wychavon DC for their patience and care in assessing the case.
LAUNCH EVENT
The planning of our launch event is well underway. The likely date has now been put back to December 1st although this is not yet set in stone. One inconsiderate board member is taking his first foreign holiday for 5 years in the last 2 weeks of November so dates have been moved to accommodate this. That said, we are working hard to enable online payments on this website so we can begin taking members before our official launch. We have our monthly Board Meeting this coming Wednesday, where hopefully a lot of the details of membership packages will be thrashed out.
SALE PROCESS
Following the flurry of activity at Sixways concerning Loxwood Holdings' takeover of Atlas Worcester Warriors Ltd. things have once more gone quiet on the ownership front. The expectation is that Atlas (ie Chris Holland) will make payment of the £1m deferred consideration on or before Monday 9th October and finally properly complete on WRFC Trading Limited. This is five months after Julie Palmer announced on social media that "Andrew (Hook) and I together with our Joint appointee Julian Pitts have completed the sale of Worcester Warriors."
There is still no information about the sale out of receivership of Sixways Stadium Limited or the land owned by MQ Property Limited and controlled by Worcester Sport Limited.
A month ago we reported that there remained at least one other bidder in the battle to buy the club in its entirety https://www.wwst.co.uk/post/atlas-not-the-only-option This organisation had been involved in the process since the very beginning, well before Atlas were named as preferred bidders. They had chosen to shy away from any publicity but presented, in person to the Trust, what appeared to be an exciting business plan with rugby very much at the forefront. The WWST working group (as it was at the time) was wary because of difficulty in corroborating their claims of funding. We were requested not to share any information, because of concerns that Begbies Traynor Group would consider it a breach of their non-disclosure agreement. Therefore we were unable to ask the administrators to give credence to their plans. In the time since our statement release (as above), we have discovered further information that suggests their funding sources are clandestine. As things stand, we believe this group may find satisfying the RFU Financial Viability Group a challenge and hence may struggle to pass any "fit and proper" test. Given that the Supporters' Trust feels strongly that RFU approval is essential for any future owner of the club we cannot currently endorse their bid. Should things change and the group are more open and transparent about their funding or, indeed, are approved by the RFU, we would be very happy to reconsider this viewpoint.
WEBSITE UPDATE
We're in the process of trying to make this website a bit more "fit and proper" also. You may have noticed some terrifying mugshots on the "About" page - perhaps you'll even recognise one of them as the person that sits 3 rows in front of you in the East Stand. We have also expanded the FAQ section but we're always happy to hear any queries and comments via the online form or direct by email to warriorstrust@outlook.com.
BIRTHDAY BOY
Finally, many happy returns to Richard Edy, our non-executive director, who, as I type will no doubt be struggling home from the pub in Redditch after celebrating his 50th birthday. And yes - you do look a lot younger Richard.....
7/10/23 00:12
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