sport news Worcester players and fans show warrior spirit but defeat to Exeter could be ... trends now
Cowboys out, up the workers, read a sign on the way into Sixways yesterday. As messages go, it left little to the imagination and summed up exactly how the supporters of embattled Worcester feel as their club teeters on the edge of existence.
There remains a very real possibility this game could have been the Warriors’ last. That it even took place at all was, frankly, a miracle. This was a match which drew a line in the sand for Worcester.
Unless owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring can finalise a takeover of the club in the coming days, Warriors staff are set to strike. They have had enough and who can blame them?
The majority of Worcester employees, bar the players, have only been paid 65 per cent of their August salaries. Some have been paid nothing at all.
Worcester Warriors lost 21-36 to Exeter in what could be the club's final ever league game
They have carried on heroically and worked wonders to ensure their team were able to play against Exeter. They won’t do so again.
Off the field, Worcester’s staff have excelled. On it, the club’s players produced a backs-to-the-wall display which while not enough for victory, contained bags of fight and desire and proved just why this club must be saved.
‘We can’t keep going like this,’ Worcester director of rugby Steve Diamond admitted after his team’s 36-21 defeat. ‘It’s embarrassing for us to call ourselves a high-performance environment and for me to be involved when we are dealing with what we are dealing with.’
Worcester have certainly had to deal with unprecedented circumstances since the club was first served with a winding-up petition over an unpaid tax bill in August.
Fans showed their support for their team with hopes that a solution can be found to save them
A new takover deal needs to be agreed this week or the club could be in real danger
‘I don’t think any director of rugby has had to answer these sorts of questions before,’ said Diamond, who was quizzed post-match about Worcester’s financial future and whether his staff have been bullied in the workplace.
The owners yesterday released a lengthy statement claiming they were close to sealing a sale of Worcester to a new, unnamed buyer who is prepared to immediately pump in financial funds which will seal the future of the club.
But the pair, who have now lost the trust of everyone connected to Worcester, said as much last Friday and patience with the ‘cowboys’ has now run out.
‘The owners came in with a cider budget and wanted a champagne club,’ former Worcester forward Martin Hooper — who has been a season ticket holder for the last six years — told Sportsmail.
‘The lack of
