Worcester complete sale to Atlas Group and assure a future for Warriors

Jim O’Toole’s consortium ‘have taken control of rugby club’.

Worcester Warriors flags. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire.

The sale of Worcester Warriors to the Atlas Group, headed by Jim O’Toole, has been completed. The former Warriors chief executive and his consortium were confirmed as a preferred bidder last year, and talks with the club’s administrators are now complete after a deadline set by Begbies Traynor passed on Tuesday.

“We’ve concluded the transaction, and have taken control of the rugby club,” O’Toole told the Guardian on Wednesday.

The deal assures a future for the Warriors after they entered administration last September, with the full details of their existence still to be confirmed.

A statement from Atlas following their successful bid for the financially stricken former Premiership club is expected to be released later.

Steve Diamond, the club’s former director of rugby, had also attempted to take control of the club as part of a different consortium, having been in charge of the team when the club collapsed.

Worcester and Wasps both entered administration this season, plunging the Premiership into chaos, with London Irish now becoming the latest club to face serious financial jeopardy. The Exiles have so far failed to pay players and staff wages for April, and a meeting was being held to discuss the situation on Wednesday.

Guardian