Davys says no to the Warriors

Auckland businessman Paul Davys has hit out at the way Eric Watson handled his approach to buy the Warriors off him.

In a statement to Stuff yesterday, Davys confirmed he has withdrawn his offer to take over the struggling NRL club, which has been owned by Watson for 17 years.

Davys felt he was negotiating in good faith with Watson to buy the club and had progressed to the due diligence stage of negotiating, which he had expected to take two weeks.

However, Davys, who is a coowner of childcare company ChoiceKids, said he was only given one week and is unhappy at how Watson handled negotiations, so decided to pull out.

‘‘I have withdrawn my interest due to a confusing process,’’ Davys said.

‘‘I was given every indication that my offer was accepted subject to due diligence only to find the process being handled more like a tender.

‘‘I was advised this week that I needed to complete my due diligence, then submit an offer for Eric to consider. This to me is back to front and time-delaying.’’

Watson put out a statement last weekend confirming that there were several parties looking to buy the Warriors and these expressions of interest were being considered privately by him.

However, it was always felt the most likely person to buy the Warriors from Watson was Davys.

But with the news that Davys has ended his interest, it once again increases the uncertainty around the club.

They are struggling to sign players for next year’s squad and it’s likely that a player showing any interest in joining the team would feel cautious about the move while the issue of ownership is in the air.

Davys believed he would have brought stability to the Warriors and given their long suffering fans some hope.

‘‘The fans are wanting to know what direction the club is taking.

‘‘There is a lot of work to do in a short period of time to get the systems in place that I feel the club needs and with a sale process of uncertainty I feel it’s best I move on and let everyone get on with life,’’ Davys said. ‘‘I will make no further comment and wish the club all the best.’’