• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

We Need To Talk About Wasps

Interested to see who this groundshare is with. Cannot imagine it will be at the CBS Arena now Mike Ashley owns it. I could be wrong though.
 
Interested to see who this groundshare is with. Cannot imagine it will be at the CBS Arena now Mike Ashley owns it. I could be wrong though.
Me too. If the RFU know, why is it a big secret? Surely it must be agreed and no longer subject to negotiation? It's not like they'd act before having plans in place...

If the RFU don't know, why have they waved Wasps' Championship place through? They certainly have no recent form in acting before having watertight plans in place.
 
Ah, I was going to say I'll probably go to some games if they're in Birmingham but Solihull is crap for public transport - about a 3mile walk from the nearest train station
 
Really struggling with this now and I apologize for bringing this up again but have Wasps got no shame? If another company had gone under in the same circumstances then just set up shop again in the same area as if nothing had happened there would be uproar but everyone seems really happy and enthusiastic about it. What the **** am I missing here? I live in Coventry, there is a real bitter taste about the whole Wasps debacle and I am not on about the whiny, entitled Wendyball fans, sod them they deserve Mike Ashley but the businesses around here who Wasps owed money to, not to mention the local authority and the bloody tax man. Some people are pinning most of this on the RFU, how the hell is it the RFUs fault that Wasps was a **** business?

I said earlier I was pleased for Wasps fans but having given it some thought I'm actually not. If you are a Wasps fan and can sit there now with a big smile on your Chevy Chase because you can play rugby (at someone else's ground just for a change) knowing what your club has done and how it's behaved then screw you and in 8-10 years time when it all goes Pete Tong again I will laugh my head off as it's what you deserve.

Sorry it's been a long hard week.
 
Really struggling with this now and I apologize for bringing this up again but have Wasps got no shame? If another company had gone under in the same circumstances then just set up shop again in the same area as if nothing had happened there would be uproar but everyone seems really happy and enthusiastic about it. What the **** am I missing here? I live in Coventry, there is a real bitter taste about the whole Wasps debacle and I am not on about the whiny, entitled Wendyball fans, sod them they deserve Mike Ashley but the businesses around here who Wasps owed money to, not to mention the local authority and the bloody tax man. Some people are pinning most of this on the RFU, how the hell is it the RFUs fault that Wasps was a **** business?

I said earlier I was pleased for Wasps fans but having given it some thought I'm actually not. If you are a Wasps fan and can sit there now with a big smile on your Chevy Chase because you can play rugby (at someone else's ground just for a change) knowing what your club has done and how it's behaved then screw you and in 8-10 years time when it all goes Pete Tong again I will laugh my head off as it's what you deserve.

Sorry it's been a long hard week.
There's a lot to unpack in that but I think it's rather unfair to blame the fans in any of this. Of course the fans will be happy to see their club back and playing, why wouldn't they? It's not their fault the club was poorly managed or their fault the club spunked away £95m with a £4m per season cap on wages (still can't get my head around what they spent the money on).

Unfortunately big businesses do go bust and do leave people short of pocket. It's life I'm afraid (when people fly too close to the sun). Most companies that go bust also re-emerge in some way shape or form and to be honest it's a good thing, it's people's jobs and that's worth it. Wasps have done exactly what millions of company's do each year.

I understand you're annoyed at that owing money to people and companies but who do you really want to blame that at, the fans? The new owners? Or the old ones?
 
There's a lot to unpack in that but I think it's rather unfair to blame the fans in any of this. Of course the fans will be happy to see their club back and playing, why wouldn't they? It's not their fault the club was poorly managed or their fault the club spunked away £95m with a £4m per season cap on wages (still can't get my head around what they spent the money on).

Unfortunately big businesses do go bust and do leave people short of pocket. It's life I'm afraid (when people fly too close to the sun). Most companies that go bust also re-emerge in some way shape or form and to be honest it's a good thing, it's people's jobs and that's worth it. Wasps have done exactly what millions of company's do each year.

I understand you're annoyed at that owing money to people and companies but who do you really want to blame that at, the fans? The new owners? Or the old ones?
Very diplomatically put, I really don't get the size of the sun either, not that ticket sales would go any real way to make a dent in it but I for one have not been in attendance for a long time largely due to some of the locals and their treatment, it would consume a day and cost me a fair bit which if was an excellent day out would be justifiable but when your slightly on edge due to the unwelcoming nature it's easier just not to.
 
I'd personally count it more of Birmingham than Coventry but it's still midlands based so maybe that's enough.
This is what rfu regs say
The Phoenix Entity will need to provide evidence satisfactory to the RFU that it will be entitled to use the usual home ground of the insolvent Club for a minimum of three years and enter into any lease or licence required by the RFU to ensure this.

Maybe they have dispensation for some reason.
 
Realistically Solihull is part of Birmingham these days,
It's on the Cov side/not far from Cov at all so presumably they've got some leeway from the RFU. If they'd had to stay specifically Coventry their only option is the CBS (too big for Prem let alone Championship) cause they can't exactly groundshare with Coventry RFC
So beyond that you're looking at Nuneaton (presumably encroaching on Tigers country), Leamington (not sure if there's a ground they could share there?) or Rugby (presumably encroaching on Saints territory)
RFU probably happier for them to attempt to tap into the Birmingham market than go bankrupt (again) renting the CBS
 
Or Wasps just except without a suger daddy they are at best a grassroots side with no roots in the Midlands. They haven't made the move work. If Birmingham or Coventry were going to produce a premiership side they would have done by now. Worcester failed and they are actually a local club with local roots. All Wasps are going to achieve by working around the Midlands like they did around London is more expense and in the end more debt as they have never in their history been able to draw in a profitable crowd.

They should IMO (and I admit I'm not their biggest fan at the minute) move back to Sudbury and play in the regional divisions like Rosslyn park or Blackheath. There's no shame in that and it might stop the inevitable implosion of debt and bad management that will come in the not too distant future.
 
Yeah, I meant to say that I do think forcing them to stay in the Midlands is a weird one - it was a dumb move initially, and still trying to force it after so many years when it's clearly not working is just going to continue to harm Wasps long term

There's definitely rugby interest in Birmingham/north Birmingham (Sutton, Lichfield etc.) but it's very much Tigers country round here, they're not gonna just suddenly switch to Wasps because Solihull is an easier commute
 
Yeah, I meant to say that I do think forcing them to stay in the Midlands is a weird one - it was a dumb move initially, and still trying to force it after so many years when it's clearly not working is just going to continue to harm Wasps long term

There's definitely rugby interest in Birmingham/north Birmingham (Sutton, Lichfield etc.) but it's very much Tigers country round here, they're not gonna just suddenly switch to Wasps because Solihull is an easier commute
There is big rugby interest in Birmingham as there is big rugby interest in Coventry but these are local clubs that are well supported by the people who play for them, the parents who take their kids to minis and the old players who volunteer on a Saturday or Sunday to run the bar etc. These people might occasionally think about watching a top tier game, they might like it when one of the mini teams get to hold the flags at the start of one of those games but in honesty they only care about their club. That's the beauty of the grassroots game. Rugby is a players game not a fans game like football. Trying to tap into years of family ties at local clubs will fail. People will not all of sudden stop watching and playing for Barker Butts on a Saturday just because Wasps have rolled into town.

Go back to London. Start again, build your house on rock not sand and accept it. Being a grassroots club is not failing and it's better than being rugby's hobo.
 
Or Wasps just except without a suger daddy they are at best a grassroots side with no roots in the Midlands. They haven't made the move work. If Birmingham or Coventry were going to produce a premiership side they would have done by now. Worcester failed and they are actually a local club with local roots. All Wasps are going to achieve by working around the Midlands like they did around London is more expense and in the end more debt as they have never in their history been able to draw in a profitable crowd.

They should IMO (and I admit I'm not their biggest fan at the minute) move back to Sudbury and play in the regional divisions like Rosslyn park or Blackheath. There's no shame in that and it might stop the inevitable implosion of debt and bad management that will come in the not too distant future.
They have had move fans (even excluding the free tickets)at the Ricoh than they ever had in London.

Also Worcester are not in the same area at all. You need to temper your personal anger on this issue as you are starting to come across as a raving mad mad man against anything wasps and I know that's not what you want.

I'd also add that Worcester would have been fine with correct financial management, how many clubs these days are just reliant upon a sugar daddy which is wrong compared to clubs like Worcester trying to build a solid financial base with other things.
 
Worcester almost survived with an anti-sugar daddy. People were shocked things went bad cause everything was looking okay to the public.
 
Top