Worcester's season in doubt as players and staff unlikely to be paid on time

Worcester Warriors' participation in the upcoming Gallagher Premiership season is under serious doubt after they communicated that players and staff are unlikely to be paid on Wednesday.

The decision follows after the club's finances has been frozen by HM Revenue and Customs following unpaid taxes which is reported to be in the range of over £6m to HMRC apart from £14m to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in the form of Covid loan.

According to the agreement with the players and staff members, they can serve a notice to the club if their payroll is not cleared on Wednesday and a with a 28-day period they can become free agents.

Nevertheless, the Rugby Players' Association released a statement stating that they are working every possible way to ensure the players are released from the contract immediately rather than close to a month after the Premiership season gets underway.

"The RPA has communicated with the players today and will continue to do everything in our power to support them," a statement read.

"Things are moving very quickly and we are liaising with all stakeholders to keep across all the relevant information.

"We are ready to support players with enforcing their employment rights, and in all other areas, and especially in the event that they are not paid in line with their contracts."