1
Worcester duo Whittingham and Goldring disqualified and fined
By Kim Ekin
A Cardiff Magistrates Court hearing has resulted in Worcester owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring being disqualified as company directors for twelve months. The 51-year-old Whittingham and the 38-year-old Goldring were also each fined £660 and ordered to pay £100 costs after failing to file accounts for the financial year to February 28, 2021.
Having neglected to submit the necessary paperwork to the Registrar of Companies in Cardiff by the November 30 deadline last year, neither of the rugby club co-owners were in court for the hearing last Friday which dealt with the accounts for Worcester Sport Limited, one of the various companies owned by Whittingham and Goldring, and the verdicts were determined in their absence.
The pair have until Friday, November 11, to pay the fines, a date that comes a week after their year-long disqualification period begins on Friday, November 4. According to court reports, the order has resulted in Whittingham and Goldring being disqualified from being directors of a company.
They also cannot act as the liquidators or administrators of a company, be receivers or managers of a company's property nor be in any way - directly or indirectly - be concerned or take part in the promotion, formation or management of a company for twelve months.
It was September 26 when Worcester entered administration with debts reportedly totalling more than £25million, a sum that includes the £6m owed in taxes to HMRC as well as the £15m due to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of fund loaned to Premiership clubs during the pandemic.
Another Warriors company, WRFC Players Limited, was wound up at an insolvency court on October 5, leaving players free to leave with immediate effect. Thirteen have so far found new clubs. Ollie Lawrence and Fergus Lee-Warner have joined Bath, who also have Ted Hill and Valery Morozov on loan, Alex Hearle, Seb Atkinson and Finn Theobald-Thomas are at Gloucester, Tom Howe and Andrew Kitchener were picked up by Saracens, while Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), Joe Batley (Bristol), Rory Sutherland (Ulster) and Fin Smith (Northampton) have also moved.
Begbies Traynor, the administrators, are still seeking a buyer for Worcester, who have been suspended by the RFU for the remainder of the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership season and automatically relegated to the Championship for the 2023/24 Championship.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Famous club back in National Leagues after winning promotion
3
Vermeulen to join Premiership rivals despite interest around the world
4
Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence
5
Latest Comments
I’m sure the Welsh girls will give it a go with everything they have. They are unlikely though to be able to stem the white tide for 80 minutes. Wales will pick their No 1 side, it remains to be seen what team the Red Roses will field, Mitchell seems determined to experiment
Go to commentsFrance will find it somewhat easier from hereon in until they get to Twickenham. Scotland are much improved but French home advantage, flair and nous should see them victorious. Italy will have their hands full with Ireland and even home advantage may not be enough for them. Ireland will be better in the final third and O’Brien will have her kicking boots on. I would not discount Italy completely as they showed much resilience against England. Wales were flattered by the scoreline against Scotland and will have more than their hands full with probably another experimental Red Roses side. Wales need to find some creativity behind the scrum and whilst their forwards are fierce competitors they are lacking a little in physical presence. England can play poorly by their standards and still win by 30+ points. If they play well you need a calculator against some teams. I would like to see Shekells get a chance at 12 as she, I thought, was the main positive for the RRs amongst the new/newish players. Others performed OK but did not suggest they were of the same standard as the usual incumbents and worthy of being in match day squads for KO matches. Perhaps Robinson will get a start to prove me wrong. I suspect almost everyone in the squad will at least be named in a match day squad after the first two or three matches.
Go to comments