Premiership Rugby Guide - Everything you need to know about Round 21
Mar 23 | 3 min readWasps face relegation after becoming the second Premiership club to enter administration
The Premiership club has made 167 staff, including players and coaches, redundant less than three weeks after Worcester's demise
Wasps face relegation at the end of the season after it was confirmed the Premiership club have been forced into administration.
The Midlanders become the second Premiership side to go into administration in the last three weeks after Worcester Warriors suffered the same fate.
The Coventry-based club were suspended from all competition last week after signalling their intention to appoint administrators.
167 staff, including all players and coaches, have been redundant following the news.
Wasps owe £35m to bondholders following their move to Coventry in 2014, with a further £2m in unpaid taxes.
Rugby Football Union regulations state that a club placed in administration during the season will be relegated for the following campaign unless they can prove that it was a 'no-fault insolvency event...beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the affected club'.
The four-time Premiership champions had their round six clash with Exeter cancelled as the club prepared to enter administration.
Hopes of a last-minute deal to save the club from administration and relegation to the second tier of English rugby were dashed on Monday afternoon.
BT Sport pundit and ex-Wasps fly-half Andy Goode wrote on Twitter: "Exceptionally sad day for Wasps as they go into administration. A club I loved my time with on and off the field.
"Thoughts with every player, member of staff and fan at the minute. Hopefully the club finds new investment and can bounce back as soon as possible."
A statement released on the Premiership Rugby website from joint-administrator Andrew Sheridan read: “This is a dark day for English rugby, and we know this will be devastating news for every Wasps player and member of staff, past players, sponsors, and their thousands of supporters throughout the world, and anyone who has ever been involved with this great club.
“Our immediate focus is on supporting those who have lost their jobs this morning. This will be an incredibly challenging time for every individual, and we will be assisting them in making claims to the redundancy payments service."
Tuesday's Premiership Rugby Cup clash with Sale and Sunday's Premiership clash with champions Leicester have both been cancelled.
