AN INVESTIGATION

Worcester Warriors were once a Premiership rugby club.

They had the stadium.
They had the supporters.
They had the players.
They had the ambition.

And then, almost unbelievably, it all came crashing down.

In September 2022, Worcester Warriors entered administration. Sixways was placed into receivership. Players and staff were left fighting for their futures, while supporters watched the club they loved edge towards extinction.

But the story did not begin in 2022.

And it certainly did not end there.

Behind the rugby was a complicated world of companies, ownership, property, loans, debts, investments and decisions. There was Sixways. There was the rugby club. There was the Premiership Rugby P Share. And there were people and organisations whose roles would become increasingly important as the story unfolded.

So how did Worcester Warriors get from a Premiership club playing in front of thousands of supporters at Sixways...

to the brink of disappearing altogether?
And perhaps the even greater question:
how did Worcester rugby rise again?

This is not a story based on rumour, hindsight or speculation.

It is an attempt to follow the evidence.

To follow the companies.
To follow the money.
To follow the decisions.

And, ultimately, to follow the extraordinary journey of a rugby club that came within touching distance of death — yet somehow found a way to live again.

THE FALL AND RISE OF WORCESTER WARRIORS

The story begins before the fall.

THE CHAPTERS

PART ONE - The Road to 28th September 2018

Chapter 1 — The Club Before the Sale

Cecil Duckworth, the development of Worcester Warriors, Sixways Holdings, the club's finances, the search for investment and the financial position immediately before the change of ownership.

Chapter 2 — The New Owners

The 2018 takeover and the people and companies behind it — Militibus Quanco, Colin Goldring, Jason Whittingham, Bond Group and the new corporate structure surrounding Worcester Warriors.

Chapter 3 — Sixways, the Money and the P Share

The three foundations of the Warriors' financial story: the Sixways property, the financing and borrowing arrangements, and the Premiership Rugby P Share. Who owned what, what was it worth and how was it financed?

PART TWO — THE YEARS OF PRESSURE

Chapter 4 — Following the Money

A forensic examination of the finances under the new ownership. Loans, investments, creditors, related companies, transactions and the movement of money through the corporate structure.

Chapter 5 — COVID and the £15 Million Question

The pandemic changes everything. The collapse of rugby revenues, Government support, the COVID loan, security arrangements and the growing importance of the club's assets.

Chapter 6 — The Warning Signs

The accounts, cash-flow problems, creditors and mounting financial pressure. What was happening inside Worcester Warriors as the club moved towards the summer of 2022?

PART THREE — THE FALL

Chapter 7 — The Final Summer

The extraordinary events of 2022: unpaid wages, HMRC, suppliers, players, attempts to raise money and the increasingly desperate struggle to save the club.

Chapter 8 — September 2022

The collapse. Administration, receivership of Sixways and the final days of Worcester Warriors as a Premiership club.

Chapter 9 — Inside the Administration

The administrators' findings. The companies, the creditors, the liabilities, the assets and the financial reality they uncovered.

Chapter 10 — The Assets and the £9.8 Million P Share

Sixways, the land, the P Share and the remaining assets. What they were worth, who had claims over them, what happened to them and where the money went.

Chapter 11 — The End

Liquidation, the final corporate collapse and the moment the original Worcester Warriors ceased to exist.

PART FOUR — THE RISE

Chapter 12 — Worcester Refuses to Die

The supporters, the community and those who refused to allow professional rugby to disappear from Worcester. The creation of the new organisation and the fight to preserve the club's identity.

Chapter 13 — The Road Back

The rebuilding of Worcester Warriors, the climb through the English rugby pyramid, new players, new management, the supporters and the return to the Championship.

Chapter 13b - The Supporter's Trust

Chapter 14 — Back Where We Belong

The extraordinary 2025–26 season. The Championship campaign, the unbeaten Ealing Trailfinders, the play-offs, Bedford, the final and Worcester Warriors' return to the top of the Championship.

Chapter 15 - What Next

The Future Success of Worcester Warriors

A quick Summary of publically available information

EPILOGUE

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO WORCESTER WARRIORS?

Having followed the evidence from the old ownership through the 2018 takeover, the financial restructuring, COVID, the collapse, administration and liquidation — and finally the resurrection — we return to the questions with which this investigation began.

What happened?

Why did it happen?

Could it have been prevented?

And perhaps the most important question of all:

What must never happen again?