Wasps are staying in Midlands for the long run
NEW Wasps CEO Andy Scott has ruled out a return to London and says that the club will remain in the Midlands for the long term.
Wasps were last week granted approval to play in next year's Championship by the RFU after the club's financial crisis and relegation from the Premiership.
HALO22 Limited's recent purchase of the club satisfied the RFU's requirements and provided a major boost for the suffering supporters.
Scott said: “We are relieved but we know there's a long road ahead. The first target of ours when we got involved on November 17 was for on December 13 (after the RFU's deadline) that Wasps still existed as a professional club with the ability to play. That was the overriding focus and thankfully we've got through that.
“Now we've got to focus on Wasps Women who didn't get accepted into the Premier 15s at this stage. We've got to revisit that and get them one of the last two places. We've got to address the conditions of the RFU and then have to go about building a coaching squad, a playing squad and a commercial team ready for August.”
Wasps had debts totalling £95m when they went into administration, but an offer from a consortium including members of the club's legends group was accepted at the end of October.
Scott, a former CEO of 188Bet and Interim CEO of the Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, was appointed CEO, and will be supported by former players including Kenny Logan and Peter Scrivener, as well as a new main board of senior executives.
“Wasps Legends have always been important to us. Without wanting to sound elitist, there's not many other clubs that can boast such a well organised collection of ex-players. That's not just professional players, that's anyone who's ever worn the jersey,” said Scott.
“They knit together our historical amateur team, our women, our professional men's team and are all fans, and have been great throughout this.”
Scott has stated that there's plenty of work to do and has outlined four pieces of work that are the top of his priority list.
He added: “We've got to continue closing down the institution of investors we're talking to, we've got a number of conditions set up by the RFU after being granted a licence so we need to follow through on those, we need to work with Wasps Women to get an application accepted for them to get back into the Premier 15s and we've got to build a squad as at the moment we're a blank canvas.”
With attendance numbers dwindling below 10,000 towards the end of their tenure at the CBS Arena in Coventry, it was thought that the long-term plan would be for the club to return to its roots of London. But Scott believes Wasps future belongs in the Midlands and hopes to announce a ground share in the area shortly, believed to be Solihull Moors' 5,500 seater ARM-CO Arena.
He said: “We're very close to having an agreement with a ground in the Midlands but that's been quite a complex process as under the RFU regulations our starting point had to be the CBS Arena and then we had to show a good reason to go anywhere else. We're very close to it and should have a contract agreed in the next few weeks and then we can announce where it is.
“Moving back to London isn't a thought as we're based in the Midlands. We've set up our home here and established ourselves here. We've got a great fan base and we think we've got a strong future in the Midlands. So, we're here for the long run.”
