Premiership Rugby calls for clubs to open books with Worcester set for suspension

Premiership Rugby has called on clubs to open their books and give league officials greater scrutiny of their finances amid the desperate plights of Worcester and Wasps and fears that others may follow.

Worcester are resigned to being suspended from all competitions at 5pm on Monday when the Rugby Football Union’s deadline to meet a number of requirements, including an ability to make payroll and a “credible plan to take the club forward”, expires. Wasps, meanwhile, are more bullish that they can avoid administration but have a matter of weeks to find the £2m owed to HMRC to do so.

Simon Massie-Taylor, the chief executive of Premiership Rugby, admitted that Wasps’ decision to file notice of intention to appoint administrators last Wednesday took him by surprise while the chaos at Worcester, where the owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring have been accused by staff of “broken promises”, has become a stain on the league.

Premiership Rugby’s powers of investigation over the salary cap were strengthened in 2020 to include an ability to examine players’ WhatsApp messages and bank records, but when it comes to clubs’ accounts Massie-Taylor believes they should be more forthcoming, acknowledging that the doomsday scenario is having to finish the current season with 11 teams.

“We need to get better visibility of club finances,” he said. “It has always been a thing where Premiership Rugby hasn’t had full oversight. We can administer the salary cap but beyond that we haven’t got a clear picture so I am flying blind on a number of these things. The clubs are willing and with that we can have a proper understanding of our ecosystem and that will help find potential future investment at club level, it helps us on the commercial