Dave Walder: Wasps' spending on superstar names had caught up with them
Former Wasps fly-half described the club's demise as 'very, very sad' and 'brutal'
By Gareth Davies 16 October 2022 • 2:04pm
Wasps' "brutal" demise is down to the club stretching "beyond their means" by paying their "superstars", the Newcastle Falcons head coach Dave Walder has suggested.
The former Wasps fly-half spent four years at the troubled club before their doomed move to Coventry in 2014, and recalled playing his old employers in a Premiership Cup match at the Ricoh Arena in front of just 250 people - a sign, he thought, that the writing may have been on the wall.
Asked about the situation, he said: “It’s dire and it’s brutal. I mean, I think reality is, it's really sad for everyone there at Wasps.
“The players they've got in their group and the squad they've assembled and the budgets they've paid, you know, they've got some superstars in there and I guess it was probably just getting a bit beyond their means.
“But it's very, very sad.”
Coventry has become a graveyard of huge names for the famous club. But considering Kurtley Beale, Elliot Daly, Jimmy Gopperth, Danny Cipriani, Christian Wade, George Smith, Willie Le Roux and Charles Piatau have all played for Wasps since their relocation, it's easy to see how the wage bill might’ve piled up.
Walder, who cut his teeth at No 10 at Coventry-based Keresley RFC, added: “As a group have been talking from the move to Coventry, about the pressures they’ll be under and making things work, and I think there's always been that ‘we'll be alright, we'll be alright’ mindset.
“And then all of a sudden I think it sort of snuck up. With everything that was going on, and Worcester hitting the headlines, obviously what was going on at Wasps wasn't too far away.
“But it was certainly a big shock to read when they announced their intent to go into administration.
“I think it caught everyone by surprise and then the past two weeks have flown by and they are where they are, which is really sad.
“We played them in a Prem Cup game and there were 250 people in the Ricoh Arena.
“That's probably a sign of maybe why things haven't quite gone [to plan].”
With both Worcester Warriors and Wasps suspended from the Premiership and their futures hanging in the balance, is this a warning to smaller clubs like Newcastle? Walder doesn’t think so.
“Well, no I think rugby is precarious and I think it’s been precarious for a while,” he said. “Players’ wages have been going up and up and up and the income hasn’t necessarily been.
“Hopefully this is the last of it.
“You never want it and I think I said I hoped Worcester was the last of it, but obviously two weeks later, they’re not.
“It really is important we draw a line under it and we make the changes - whatever changes they are and whatever people decide to do - commit to it and make sure it’s financially sound and sustainable.
“That’s the key, because looking at the results today, the product on the pitch is outstanding with the closeness of games and how they’re being played - it’s great to watch.
“We’ve just got to make sure there’s more clubs playing than aren’t.”
Northampton Saints’ director of rugby Phil Dowson called the situation “tragic”, but suggested it wasn’t completely surprising.
He said: “It’s tragic, and it’s not just one club that’s financially struggling, it’s an industry that’s financially struggling. And it’s something to be aware of.
“We’re very lucky here to have a steady board and a quality MD and stuff, but every club is losing money so we need to take that into account when we’re working towards how we rectify that.”
Always a Wasp
