Aviva Premiership: something exciting happens

[tigerburnie]

WIllis is heading for Ulster

Word is he's coming to Tigers

[paddyor]

WIllis is heading for Ulster

Word is he's coming to Tigers

I meant Tom Willis

[ronk]

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/ ... 33697.html

The problem here is time. The longer a possible buyout/takeover takes, the more games they will miss this season and any comeback looks increasingly unlikely. Also, players will be jumping as soon as they get an decent offer.

They might limp on in the championship, but that now depends on debt forgiveness after the stadium is sold (or not).

The stadium was leased by Wasps, Coventry Council own it and Coventry Football were tenants of Wasps, who may also end up homeless.................again, there must be something in the water round that part of the country.

I'm no fan of administrators after seeing a few horror stories but it's hardly likely that they'd shutter the stadium with a paying client.

[Dave Cahill]

The problem for the stadium is that Coventry City's owners, SISU, have a relationship with the various owners/operators of the stadium that is comparable to that of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Over the last decade, the club has played seasons in both Northampton and Birmingham and are planning for a new stadium on land owned by the University of Warwick.

[ronk]

The problem for the stadium is that Coventry City's owners, SISU, have a relationship with the various owners/operators of the stadium that is comparable to that of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Over the last decade, the club has played seasons in both Northampton and Birmingham and are planning for a new stadium on land owned by the University of Warwick.

Well the stadium is now run by an administrator, so there's a reset there. They should take the chance and get a stable long term lease in place.

The fractious relations with Coventry City are one of the reasons things have gone badly for Wasps. Whatever about the economics in the first place, losing a stable anchor tenant was not helpful.

Anyway, I guess we'll see what happens.

[naraic]

The problem for the stadium is that Coventry City's owners, SISU, have a relationship with the various owners/operators of the stadium that is comparable to that of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Over the last decade, the club has played seasons in both Northampton and Birmingham and are planning for a new stadium on land owned by the University of Warwick.

Well the stadium is now run by an administrator, so there's a reset there. They should take the chance and get a stable long term lease in place.

The fractious relations with Coventry City are one of the reasons things have gone badly for Wasps. Whatever about the economics in the first place, losing a stable anchor tenant was not helpful.

Anyway, I guess we'll see what happens.

Losing the tenant was not only not helpful from a financial point of view but it cemented the status of Wasps in the hearts and minds of the city as the people who "stole" Coventry City FC's stadium.

That killed the potential casual support who were locals might go to a game a season or to a big event.

One of the papers valued the missed casual support at 25,000 tickets a season a few years back.

[Dave Cahill]

Whoever held the lease on the stadium, and whoever holds it in the future, will only have two kinds of relationship with the current owners of Coventry City. Dreadfully poor or none.

[paddyor]

It's a bit of a junker too isn't it? Wasps had to spend a big wedge to bring it back in like with H&S stasndards

[Leinsterimp]

Willis brothers, Dan Robson, Odogwu, Umaga, Launchbury, Barbeary.. quite a few good players you’d expect to be getting offers pretty quickly. Trouble is can’t imagine there’s too many other premiership clubs with space in their budget.

Would be quite happy to see one or two here considering the injuries and number of players who’ll be away on internationals and forced into having rest weeks in the build up to WC.

[Leinsterimp]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Munster make a move for Vincent Koch with their woes at prop

[tigerburnie]

It would seem Wasps debts were huge before they moved to Coventry, they took a gamble with their supporters money and lost, they are the big losers here along with the staff who have lost their jobs.
Until there is peace and stability in the Europe, financial stability is going to be hard to come by for businesses and employees alike, 10% inflation is going to hit borrowers hard in the Uk too. Rugby is not the cause of this chaos, it is a victim of the situation.

[IanD]

It would seem Wasps debts were huge before they moved to Coventry, they took a gamble with their supporters money and lost, they are the big losers here along with the staff who have lost their jobs.
Until there is peace and stability in the Europe, financial stability is going to be hard to come by for businesses and employees alike, 10% inflation is going to hit borrowers hard in the Uk too. Rugby is not the cause of this chaos, it is a victim of the situation.

So if Putin had not invade Ukraine Wasps would not have gone bust?

[paddyor]

It would seem Wasps debts were huge before they moved to Coventry, they took a gamble with their supporters money and lost, they are the big losers here along with the staff who have lost their jobs.
Until there is peace and stability in the Europe, financial stability is going to be hard to come by for businesses and employees alike, 10% inflation is going to hit borrowers hard in the Uk too. Rugby is not the cause of this chaos, it is a victim of the situation.

So if Putin had not invade Ukraine Wasps would not have gone bust?

Part of it but Covid definitely contributed. It does seem like Richardsons gambit delayed the inevitable as they weren't sustainable in Wycombe.

[IanD]

It would seem Wasps debts were huge before they moved to Coventry, they took a gamble with their supporters money and lost, they are the big losers here along with the staff who have lost their jobs.
Until there is peace and stability in the Europe, financial stability is going to be hard to come by for businesses and employees alike, 10% inflation is going to hit borrowers hard in the Uk too. Rugby is not the cause of this chaos, it is a victim of the situation.

So if Putin had not invade Ukraine Wasps would not have gone bust?

Part of it but Covid definitely contributed. It does seem like Richardsons gambit delayed the inevitable as they weren't sustainable in Wycombe.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/where-it ... ong-wasps/

From 10m to 90m in debts......

From your previous post.

90 million in debt and never made a profit but Covid and Ukraine made them bankrupt. Do you write scripts for BT Pundits?

[paddyor]

From your previous post.

90 million in debt and never made a profit but Covid and Ukraine made them bankrupt. Do you write scripts for BT Pundits?

They had 10m in debt before the move. They took on 35m to buy the stadium(20m) and an extra 15m presumably for working capital. So that's 57.9m (45m +12.9m in CVC windfall) in debt over 7 years. Worcester a much cheaper squad needed a loan of 15m from the UK govt to keep trading. And you know suddenly the conference centre, hotel etc are a deadweight around your neck. If they were to have any chance of rolling the bond over Covid, War and Brexit probably put paid to it. This isn't to say it was a sustainable business model.

[tigerburnie]

Wasps if you remember before the game took the money played on a public park, they never owned their own ground and were in trouble before a ball was kicked in the pro ere, some clubs like Orrell and Gosforth, just didn't bother to begin with and stayed amateur, then along came Sir John Hall with his blankety blank cheque book and pen, bought Gosforth, re branded them as Newcastle Gosforth, got Rob Andrew to buy a team. They won the league, Hall buggered off and so did the players and Falcons have struggled ever since, they are however cutting their cloth accordingly and in the middle of the soccer mad north east, are slowly building a club. Don't tarnish all the PRL clubs with the same brush as Wasps, not all are as desperate(yet) as Worcester were, the game is in financial strife, but the English RFU will have to come up with a plan, if not then they are out of a job with no National team.

[naraic]

Joe Launchbury being offered £60K per annum.

Just goes to show how little salary cap space is available. The redundant Wasps and Worcester players could struggle to get a decent salary.

[Flash Gordon]

Wasps if you remember before the game took the money played on a public park, they never owned their own ground and were in trouble before a ball was kicked in the pro ere, some clubs like Orrell and Gosforth, just didn't bother to begin with and stayed amateur, then along came Sir John Hall with his blankety blank cheque book and pen, bought Gosforth, re branded them as Newcastle Gosforth, got Rob Andrew to buy a team. They won the league, Hall buggered off and so did the players and Falcons have struggled ever since, they are however cutting their cloth accordingly and in the middle of the soccer mad north east, are slowly building a club. Don't tarnish all the PRL clubs with the same brush as Wasps, not all are as desperate(yet) as Worcester were, the game is in financial strife, but the English RFU will have to come up with a plan, if not then they are out of a job with no National team.

Never understood why the RFU didn't copy our system with centrally contracted players and stakes or ownership of clubs. The English model was never sustainable and there wasn't really the funding there to be competitive with the Irish or French clubs (except when the financial rules were broken). It's really sad to see a 2 time European Cup winner like Wasps go under.

[tigerburnie]

There's nothing wrong from a rugby point of view with the English model, what has failed is the business acumen to run it, having seen what sort of a hash our business leaders and politicians are making of running the country, it really doesn't surprise me. Leicester have had the good sense/fortune to have ex players who were successful businessmen at the helm, we are presently financially stretched, but the ground development with three new stands and a hotel built are indications that there is a sound business plan in place, it does however rely on consumers and sponsors having the spare funds to actively support the club in a financial tough time globally.

[paddyor]

Of course from the persepctive of the RFU, the system has worked well. They're not stuck for players in any position. This only becomes a problem for them if the wheels really come off. Otherwise it's more a PR problem.