Wasps former owner Chris Wright blames Coventry move for crisis
Chris Jones
Saturday May 20 2023, 12.01am, The Times
Chris Wright, the owner who led Wasps to two European Cup triumphs, has blamed the club?s 2014 move to Coventry for destroying his legacy and turning a rugby powerhouse into a ?100 million debt-ridden disaster.
Wright, the chairman of Chrysalis Vision, took over Wasps and created a joint company with Queens Park Rangers FC in 1996, with the clubs sharing Loftus Road. The millionaire businessman sold Wasps in 2008, having won 11 trophies under his ownership, handing control to Steve Hayes and becoming honorary life president. Hayes also owned Wycombe Wanderers FC, whose Adams Park ground became the club?s home.
In 2012, Hayes sold Wasps after failing to gain planning permission for a ground on an aerodrome in Wycombe. This transaction preceded the controversial move to Coventry and Derek Richardson becoming what would prove to be the final owner of the club before they went into administration and were expelled from the Gallagher Premiership in October. Now, Wasps have been demoted to the bottom tier and stripped of their licence to play in the Championship next season after failing to meet conditions set by the RFU.
Wright told The Times: ?I put a lot of my life into Wasps and that was my legacy and now it is gone, wiped off like chalk off a blackboard, and I might as well not have done it. Of course being involved with Wasps cost me a lot of money, but I have no qualms about that and I enjoyed every minute.
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?It is all very sad and of course it should not have happened. It may have been difficult to remain competitive staying at Wycombe but Wasps would still be in business. It could have been another Newcastle scenario [struggling to compete for trophies] but wouldn?t that have been better than the current situation? Losses would have been manageable.
?Derek Richardson did rescue Wasps but I would never have taken the club to Coventry and away from the fanbase. You then end up with a bond issue with a very high interest rate and so there was always going to be a day of reckoning and you were walking a tightrope.?
Wasps? debt includes ?35 million raised by a bond issue after the switch from Wycombe to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Wright expects London Irish, the latest team to experience financial trouble, to lose their battle for survival and the Premiership to become a ten-team league with no relegation.
He also revealed that Wasps had survived an attempt to kill off the club in 2000. ?During my time there we won 11 trophies in 11 years, including two European Cups,? he said. ?But there was a body of people in rugby that didn?t want Wasps to be there. At the first Premiership owners meeting I attended, I found out they were having secret talks to get rid of Wasps. I derailed that plan when it was some way down the track.
?They didn?t want another London team and wanted to bring in Cornish Pirates to have a geographical spread. Wasps then became the predominant team and we did a lot of things right, although not everything was perfect, including the Acton training ground.
?I fell out with QPR and we had to find somewhere else to play and it boiled down to Oxford United?s ground or Wycombe Wanderers. Neither was ideal but Oxford was my choice ? but I couldn?t do a deal. If you were a Wasps fan I am sure you would prefer the club to still be in existence at Wycombe in front of 9,500 fans ? not out of business.?