The impending crisis at London Irish has been averted after the club’s owner, Mick Crossan, belatedly confirmed he would pay the players their April wages, but the Exiles’ future remains uncertain unless a proposed takeover is completed in the coming weeks.
Crossan’s intervention has staved off the prospect of breach-of-contract letters being sent to the club by the squad on another chaotic day for London Irish that had put Saturday’s final match of the season against Exeter into doubt. The players were due to be paid last Friday but the club were waiting on an injection of funds from their prospective buyers, a US consortium.
On Thursday morning, the players were advised by the Rugby Players’ Association that their contracts had been breached and that they could give the club 14 days to pay their wages, after which they would be legally entitled to leave. The squad had also demanded proof that they will be insured against injury before committing to play Exeter.
“At the moment we’ve had a verbal reassurance that’s in place, which goes so far as to say that the club believes that is all in place for us,” said the captain, Matt Rogerson. “The next step for us is for that to be reaffirmed with some physical evidence which hopefully we’re going to get.”
There had been considerable doubt on whether players would be willing to face Exeter with no clear timeframe as to when their wages would arrive. With the Rugby Football Union closely monitoring the situation, Crossan finally acted late on Thursday afternoon.
Crossan’s intervention at least buys Irish some time. The US consortium is looking to acquire the club and Howard Thomas, a former Premiership chief executive, is acting as the representative of the investors, and has addressed the players regularly in recent days. The takeover is dragging on, however, amid fears from some well-placed sources that it will not go through. The US consortium footed the March wage bill but were unable to do so in time for April’s, prompting Crossan’s late intervention. If the takeover is not completed by the end of this month, Irish may find themselves in the same predicament.
Speaking on Thursday morning before the wages were paid, the director of rugby Declan Kidney praised his players’ professionalism in adversity. “Preparations are in full swing,” he said. “Training has taken place fully. It shows how much the team means to the players, the on-field and off-field staff. We are not the first company to have delayed payments but we can only control what we control and as far as we are concerned we are ploughing ahead to the match.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of players I work with in terms of their application and their positiveness. I know we are a professional team but these lads are about way more than money. I haven’t had to pick them up. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have different things going through your mind but everyone is working towards the match on Saturday. We are the professional arm of a club that is 124 years old. Everyone has conducted themselves properly and I believe 100 per cent that is what will happen between now and the game. It is our duty to keep the flag flying here and that is what we will keep doing.”
Irish will seek to end the season on a high and finish fifth in the Premiership, having just missed out on the playoffs. This week’s events have taken a toll on players, however. “I can’t speak for everyone, but for me personally it’s never nice to not have received what you are contractually owed,” said Rogerson. “But we’re a tight group, we’ve looked out for each other where possible, and those lads that have shared or have needed help that have asked for it, we’ve helped each other out along the way where we can.”
