Progress made in fight to save Rotherham

By Roth Admin
August 20 2004

On Friday the club announced that progress had been made in the attempt of saving Rotherham Rugby Club. Ultimately the final decision on Rotherham’s future will rest with the RFU. They are expected to make their decision by close of business next Wednesday.

Rotherham Titans have survived past today's critical deadline of 5pm and hope that a local consortium will present a proposal to save the club to the RFU on Monday.

"It's been a very difficult week and on Monday we had the view that the position of Rotherham looked bleak. As a result of a lot of hard work, the position may well have improved," said Solicitor Roger Hutton on behalf of Jackson Jolliffe Cork insolvency practitioners.

He added that there was a 'realistic prospect' of selling the business and the assets of the club to a new limited company, which is backed by several as yet un-named local businessmen as well as Rotherham council, supporters and non-playing staff.

Two stumbling blocks were standing in the way of this route succeeding earlier in the week, firstly that any new company would have to take on the existing wage bill and secondly that they would have to pay all outstanding wages. The wage bill stood at a figure said to be in excess of £1,000,000 but has been significantly slashed thanks to massive commitment to the cause from the players:

"The players have been absolutely fabulous and have agreed to take huge wage cuts to allow the club to proceed," added Hutton.

"We expect an answer from the RFU on Wednesday. I don't want to say that at this minute in time that it is certain that the club will be saved but we are in a far better position than we were on Friday and that in essence is down to the players, the fans, the supporters club and of course the investors and also the employess that have been running round over the last few days trying to drum up support in what is a very difficult period."

He confirmed that financial commitments of around £500,000 had been raised within the last few days and was hopeful that this figure would continue to rise. This figure includes more than £30,000 made up of small donations from rugby fans all around the world.

The future of the club remains in the balance as, providing that a managable pay-roll and business plan can be put in place, the RFU must be satisfied that any proposal is not just a short-term fix.