Worcester Warriors: Ex-boss Steve Diamond takes charge of Sixways takeover bid

Ex-Worcester Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond is at the head of one of the two main consortiums looking to take over at Sixways.

Diamond, 54, who has financial backing from two as yet unnamed investors, will have former Leicester chief executive Simon Cohen as part of his consortium.

“My goal is a sustainable business able to compete back in the Premiership within three or four years,” he said.

“Sixways Village is what we will call the business if we’re successful.”

Diamond added: “Simon has been very helpful to me with the experience he has of building a hotel when he was at Leicester.

“But, for those who think this sounds like a property deal, that is vastly secondary to what we plan to evolve over the next two to five years.”

Worcester went into administration at the end of September after which they were suspended for the rest of the season and relegated to the Championship, since when London-based financial insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor have been in charge of running the club.

“You’ve got to have a certain amount of charisma about you to convince new players to come to the Championship,” said Diamond. “Warriors have already lost 20 players since entering administration.

“It’s unchartered waters for me to go into the Championship, where I’ve never coached and never played. But I’ve got a vision that could revolutionise the Championship and make people in the Premiership look down and think “these guys are running sustainable businesses.”

Speaking at an online news conference on Thursday, Diamond added that he has already presented details of a reborn Worcester club’s survival package, both to Premiership chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor and his Rugby Football Union counterpart Bill Sweeney.

That includes bringing back into the fold Worcester’s amateur club next door, from which Warriors first evolved with the help of Cecil Duckworth’s money in the late 1980s.

“We have agreed a joint venture for maintenance of all sporting grounds within the Sixways Village and the creation of pathways for both men and women’s rugby,” he said.