Wasps miss deadline for repayment

WASPS’ preparations for the new season have been thrown into chaos after the club was unable to meet a deadline on the repayment of a £35million retail bond.

With the 2022-23 campaign less than a month away, Lee Blackett’s side have been hit hard by financial woes which have impacted on their ability to sign new players.

The problem centres on Wasps’ buying of their Coventry Building Society Arena home in 2015. A £35m retail bond was taken out in order for the purchase to go through. Yesterday’s deadline for a ‘refinancing and redemption’ of the bond was missed. Wasps have asked for another extension to the refinancing, which is held by HSBC.

The club say they have been ‘pursuing different refinancing options’. Wasps have already applied for £13m in public funds from the West Midlands Combined Authority to try to stay afloat. Blackett (above) has seen 11 players depart this summer and only seven arrive. Wasps owner Derek Richardson has insisted the club will not enter administration. ‘We are not in administration and we are not going to be,’ he told The Times. Meanwhile, concussion lobby group Progressive Rugby have described the ceasing of discussions with World Rugby as ‘disappointing’ and ‘baffling’. Several players are involved in legal proceedings against World Rugby but Progressive Rugby will no longer engage with them. A Progressive Rugby spokesperson said: ‘While we respected World Rugby’s decision to cease discussions, it was disappointing, given the need for genuinely independent voices to be at the table.’