First victim in Warriors saga

The ownership saga at the Warriors took yet another turn yesterday with Auckland Rugby League removing Cameron Mcgregor as chairman of the Carlaw Heritage Trust.

The trust, which is an arm of Auckland Rugby League but with its own board, owns a 67 per cent stake in the Warriors, while Autex Industries owns the remainder.

The trust and Autex are locked in a battle for complete ownership of the Warriors, with options on the table for the trust to either sell its share or buy out Autex.

Mcgregor, who is also deputy chairman of the Warriors, wanted the latter, but at a meeting of the trust and ARL boards on Wednesday night, he was informed the ARL wanted to sell.

There was also a meeting on Thursday night between the ARL board and the Auckland clubs, but no final decision was reached.

Mcgregor had hoped to have a meeting with the clubs, but received a letter from the ARL’S lawyers yesterday, informing him he had been removed as their representative on the trust’s board.

‘‘I found out they passed this at Wednesday night’s meeting,’’ Mcgregor told Stuff.

‘‘So they’ve been sitting on it for a couple of days, and not telling anyone what was going on. I find it ironic that it’s lawyers informing me and no-one had the guts to tell me in person.’’

With Mcgregor gone, the sale of the trust’s share of the Warriors to Autex seems more likely, but Mcgregor said it would still be the 32 Auckland clubs who had the ultimate say. In December, Mcgregor stood down as chairman of Auckland Rugby League and changed from being chairman of the Warriors to deputy chairman.

Auckland Rugby League chairman Shane Price declined to comment on Mcgregor when contacted.

The Warriors play their final game of the season today.