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The sad, sad state that is Worcester Warriors rolled into Kingsholm Wednesday night with a 41-year-old and the owner of a pizza business forced into emergency replacement.
The tight Premiership side still managed to find some dough somewhere.
Needs must. That the club is in this downright ridiculous, not to mention a terribly sad position, is thanks to owners Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham.
The pair have dragged a proud club into the gutter and no one at Worcester wants them around anymore. Rugby as a collective also wants them gone.
Their actions have made Worcester a soapbox of a club and the good people who make up the games and backroom team – not to mention their supporters – are the ones who pay the price.
Wednesday was another remarkable day in the never-ending Worcester story.
Worcester Warriors suffered a 49-21 defeat to Gloucester in Kingsholm on Wednesday night
Sportsmail revealed that Goldring and Whittingham received a £500,000 loan from Warriors icon and real-life hero Cecil Duckworth in his final days. Duckworth passed away in 2020 after suffering from cancer and the loan has not been repaid.
The Rugby Football Union has also taken steps to prepare for the suspension of the affected Warriors from all competitions unless they can guarantee they can host Saturday’s Premiership game against Newcastle at Sixways at noon on Thursday.
In addition, they must provide proof of appropriate insurance and payment of all outstanding wages in August to staff and players – no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday. As things stand now, that seems unlikely.
The Worcester squad included 41-year-old former Gloucester man Jonny Goodridge (pictured)
On a busy day with even more turmoil in the English national game, Wasps tried to reassure concerned players and staff.
The Coventry-based party was forced to take drastic measures to avert the threat of a liquidation order from HMRC.
Worcester’s match with Newcastle continues for the time being. Amidst all this background noise, Worcester is somehow still running a rugby operation.
That it is underway is something of a miracle and is a great credit to players and staff.
On Wednesday night, they assembled a team to start defending the Premiership Rugby Cup title they won last year.
Their match day roster included 41-year-old former Gloucester man Jonny Goodridge who hadn’t played competitive rugby in nine years.
Former Dove international and owner of the pizza company Mat Gilbert sat on the couch
Former Deaf international Mat Gilbert, whose main occupation is selling pizza, joined Goodridge on the couch.
Gilbert did get on the field while Goodridge was unused, but the fact that both were even needed to put on jerseys showed how exhausted Worcester’s resources are at the moment.
They were just able to afford the £45 fee it costs to register new players for the Premiership Cup with the RFU and maximized the number of loan options they could bring in to boost their wafer-thin squad.
An outcast Warriors team of kids and veterans gave it their all against a good Gloucester side
Therefore, Goodridge and Gilbert filled in. Worcester’s academy coach Chris Morgan said: ‘We didn’t have many players available and we had a squad of 21, really because I don’t think you can really count Jonny.
‘Mat told me he had a brownie for lunch and some croissants for breakfast! The commitment from the players was huge – we certainly didn’t fail for lack of commitment.
“If only Goldring and Whittingham had the backbone, the resilience, the honesty and the never-saying attitude of Worcester’s players and staff.
As their first-choice team had done last Sunday against Exeter in the Premiership, a maverick Warriors team of kids and veterans gave it their all in Kingsholm. So was the Worcester communications team.
“That’s 65 percent of the game played,” the Warriors tweeted after 52 minutes. So we clock off for the night and head back to the ranch.”
The admittedly funny gallows humor was a reference to the fact that most Worcester employees still only received 65 percent of their paychecks in August. Some have not yet received anything at all.
Worcester was eventually outdone by a Gloucester team full of international players
Worcester’s Twitter account had posted heavy criticisms of Goldring and Whittingham earlier in the day, including Sportsmail’s story about the loan they got from Duckworth.
The use of the word “ranch” was notable, as Worcester’s staff and supporters begin to refer to Goldring and Whittingham as “cowboy” owners.
Worcester was eventually overrun by a Gloucester squad that included Italian wing forward Jake Polledri, former England No.8 Ben Morgan, Azzurri scrum half Stephen Varney and Georgian international center Giorgi Kveseladze, but that’s no shame.
On a pure rugby basis, it was fantastic to see Polledri back in competitive rugby for the first time in almost two years.
Polledri suffered a serious knee injury in 2020 – then complicated by further nerve damage – before tragically losing his brother Sam to a heart attack earlier this year.
Polledri played 67 minutes and left the field with a big smile on his face and a lot of applause.
The two teams went to the break 14-14, Worcester impressed after a poor start and scored twice via Harri Doel and Finn Theobald-Thomas. Gloucester remained clear after the break and came out as the winner 49-21.
Finn Theobald-Thomas, who scored for Worcester against George Barton of Gloucester
Alex Wills grabbed Worcester’s third try and half-backs Ollie Wynn and Charlie Titcombe impressed.
So did whore Theobald-Thomas. Wynn was left homeless when Worcester’s academy house was seized after the club couldn’t keep up with mortgage payments.
Worcester’s players and staff plus the vast roster – who had been given free tickets to this game by Gloucester as a gesture of goodwill – huddled together after the final whistle.
The club’s existence remains on the cutting edge. “It’s week to week, day to day at the moment,” Morgan added, with the administration still looking like Worcester’s only possible route to survival. It’s a route Goldring and Whittingham don’t want to take.
“It’s incredibly difficult for everyone involved,” Morgan said. “It’s frustrating, but in difficult times, good people get through. We’ve seen a lot of deadlines lately, but the guys keep trying.
Humor and hard work get us through it. We can’t help but be distracted, but can only concentrate on the games and we are fully prepared for Saturday.”