Kent!

[St Bruno]

It feels to me that a number of Waspies are falling by the wayside in all this. I don't see how the "club" intends to keep our interest up in the meanwhile (10 years?)

We need to see a Wasps side playing - for me it doesn't matter where or who the players are.

I'll buy a season ticket no matter where we play, although Kent probably rules out home matches for me. I shall be nearly 90 then!

[BdeB]

Where are you, BdeB?

I am in Ickham, where my wife's father used to be vicar.

I am in Canterbury where I am a vicar!

[NellyWellyWaspy]

I know it?s a very personal thing but I can?t see the direct correlation between not being able to attend matches and not following Wasps. I quite understand that the live matchday experience is great but there is a lot around that and, as others have said, there are away games and TV.

+1 people manage to support Premier League football teams from the other side of the world without ever realistically having the chance to see them live. Each to their own though.

Don't think anyone is saying they are going to stop following wasps if the new ground is in Kent, just that it's not viable to attend home matches. I know for sure my son will still want the new kits and to go to games at Northampton, Leicester etc. just a shame most of our money will end up funding other clubs

^^ This. I went to/supported Wasps at home in the 80s, because it was geographically within my means, living as I did right next to Egham station. Kent will not be. IF Wasps are more local for some games, I can rock up to those. Financially, it's winners and losers for Wasps. But, while we all know some Kentish Wasps, there will not be many, just as there were few when they decided to move to Coventry, my back yard as it were for the last 30 years, and my first 20 years (as a lad). So, they will be back to building a STH fan base again.

But, I won't be as financially committed, buying tickets when it suits me. Priorities change.

[westwaleswasp]

Perfectly fair.

[DarkKnight63]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67211621 

Worcester Warriors' administrators Begbies Traynor say they are still owed ?1.2m if prospective new owners Atlas are to finalise their purchase.

The latest interim 'progress report' issued by Begbies Traynor shows that Atlas missed a self-imposed deadline to complete the deal earlier this month.

Atlas were last month given more time to finalise the buying of the troubled ex-Premiership club.

They are now under the control of Chris Holland, who also owns Wasps.

Holland, who this week announced a plan to move Wasps to Kent, took over last month as Atlas majority shareholder.

When Atlas were announced as new Warriors owners in May, having paid ?2m to complete the purchase of WRFC Trading Limited, they were required to pay another ?1m by 9 October.

But they did not meet that deadline and one of Holland's companies, Loxwood Holdings, now own the 97% holding of WRFC Trading by default as original Atlas owners Jim O'Toole and James Sandford had failed to repay a loan by the due date of 28 May.

[baldpaul101]

Where ever Wasps end up it will mean supporters will have to make a hard decision on what form their support will take.
Some stopped supporting the club when it moved to Coventry, some others (myself included) supported form a far & at whatever few home or away games I could get to. Some embraced it & continued as before while new supporters were collected form the Midlands.
If Wasps pull off a stadium in Kent as suggested (a MASSIVE if IMO) then I will be able to return to supporting at as many home games as I can get to, even though I know others will change to supporting from the sofa. We're all fans at the end of the day.

[Neils]

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/rugby-giants-wasps-eye-once-in-a-generation-move-to-kent-295639/

[Neils]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gnjxj2?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

[Neils]

Another section of the press-

https://thebusinessmagazine.co.uk/companies/wasps-buzz-into-kent-on-hunt-for-new-stadium/

[JF]

We've been played three times over property deals and always emerged in a worse state than when we went into them.

This time it's with, possibly, I'm not sure where the money comes from, a local authority. Sadly those guys are hardly models of financial probity.

If a hotel, conference centre, essential to the deal as a stadium used a few times a year won't fill the coffers, was such a good idea then why isn't there one there already?

What basis is there for suggesting that a stadium could be filled for home games? With interest rates unlikely to return to near-zero levels the interest charge alone will be huge. Lenders will think "Wasps? Oh yes, Coventry. What a mess. No thanks." and pass on the deal.

We haven't been living in the real world for some time now. Stadia, hotels, players, all cost money. Cut your cloth according to your means.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

It is only going in to the local 'Call for Sites'. It could 1-5 years before that gets in to an approved Local Plan (if it does at all). Then 1-2 years to get planning permission. Then 1-2 years to build. During all this time, who owns the land? Who finances the process, and then the build? Who 'owns' it after all that?

This is a very tenuous peek in to a possible future, to a time when I will be lucky to even be able to remember my name. In an era when we will wistfully remember petrol.

This has nothing to do with the now and next season, that's for sure.

[Skippy]

Could I be so bold to suggest that stopping the sniffing of petrol might improve longer term memory prospects😃

[Skippy]

On a more serious note, the bit I?m struggling with is the idea of a short-term fix in Worcester. If the longer term plan is a move to Kent, what is the strategy on building a brand and a fan base?

My take is this looks like two tactics bolted together dressed up as a strategy. In other words, it?s just tactics without strategy.

[WonkyWasp]

I think my personal clogs will be well and truly popped by then!