‘Others are in a precarious position’: Worcester give Premiership warning

Thirteen clubs will kick off the new Premiership campaign next week but it did not feel like it at the season launch at Twickenham on Thursday. The dire financial situation at Worcester continues to dominate the agenda and even the greatest showman would struggle to claim everything is sweet and dandy in the domestic game.

All Premiership Rugby officials can realistically do right now is pray for the Warriors’ deliverance. The league’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, insisted the competition will kick off with all 13 teams involved but there remain no firm guarantees thereafter. There is also the bigger question of how many other clubs will shortly be feeling the pinch with a winter of discontent looming for pretty much everyone.

Even as Massie-Taylor was speaking there were Worcester players waiting impatiently for their August wages and staff raising quizzical eyebrows at being paid 65% of their monthly salaries. Steve Diamond, the Warriors’ head coach, has made clear his team will show up at London Irish for their opening fixture on Saturday week but beyond that no one really knows.

According to Diamond, Worcester are far from the only club with issues – “there are other clubs who are in a precarious position” – as they try to escape a deepening financial hole. With more than £6m in unpaid tax owed to HMRC along with assorted other debts, the only potential good news is that Worcester’s owners remain in discussions with two potential buyers.

Diamond, for one, is not giving up just yet. “It looks like the [wage] payments are going through and there is a bit of relief. I am pretty sure that short-term relief will now stay. If we manage to get through this money will start coming in through the turnstiles.

“The two