Worcester are gone!!

Wow! what a thread, I have never seen so many experts in one place, its like a one stop online consultancy service. As someone far smarter than me once said, "its all about the money honey". If an NBL reset is whats needed to firm up new foundations for the future then so be it. It'll be fine, it's easy to make too much of something with nothing but speculation when the reality is that no one has the first clue of why a particular decision was taken or not taken. I for one am not criticising anyone, If we have to start a new NBL journey well let's just stop whingeing (probably spelt incorrectly) and get in with it, lets look forward not back. A journey of a thousand miles and all that.

Thank you and good night

Im not sure people will watch div3 NBL, I wont be.
Even if they get to Div one in a few years time, then would they play in the arena?.
That is assuming the costs of the arena is not prohibitive

Spot on. Worcester basketball at BBL is gone. It's over. Not give a **** for the fans, no attempt to keep going, bridge the funding gap appeal for help. Not a chance of a comeback IMO

Hey, I can take as many chill pills as you want, chillax as long as you feel necessary, and generally not give a toss. The latter seems to be your position on the closure of the club you claim to have supported. 

Why is it that in the BBL there never seems an opportunity for someone to rescue the team like they would in say football where there seems a big effort to keep clubs going whereas in the BBL once an owner decides they've had enough that's it. Surely it's in the best interest to at least attempt for someone to take over?

There is a difference here in that the club hasnt gone bust. The owners have chosen to withdraw from the BBL. But the basketball club continues.

Last year I think Sheffield Hatters withdrew from women's BBL and have now rejoined?

All this made more complicated by how heavily the club relied on income from the Uni to be able to "compete" in BBL

The owners may or may not earn their livings from running a basketball club. (I don't know)

But maybe the withdrawal from BBL allows some of them to still pay their mortgages?

Maybe not

There will be lots of sides to the story I'm sure

It's such a hard time for many economically I'm loathe to criticise

Hatters didn't withdraw. They took a sabbatical and now return. I guess if they'd know that the DCMS would come good they may have done things differently. Wolves took the DCMS money, played a season on their dime, before they closed down the BBL side. No mention of a sabbatical or plans to return to a (semi) pro level.

It was a uni team. It isn't and wasn't really a club. When the uni said no, it was over. Clearly they don't want anyone taking over (to answer KO's point) which is the common thread with uni clubs - Leeds apart - Durham, Team Northumbria and London Mets all just closed. No one was putting personal money in.
Real clubs have had ownership changes. It went well at Newcastle, terribly at Bullets, initially okay at Leeds before going pearshaped. Bigz could talk you through what happened at Tiger. Leopards, Derby and TVT emerged as different entities, only the latter went in at BBL level and had to distance themselves from Thames Valley as John Nike would have sued everyone in sight. London United is beyond complicated. Panthers, Knights & (original) Giants all went bust.
The only (slightly) comparable situation to the disappearing uni sides was Towers. Rick Taylor pulled them out of the BBL, but he spent a couple of years trying to get them into a European league before giving up and closing their D3 side.

Annually?

I'm not doubting the numbers. But I wonder what the uni got for its £350k - it's far more than needed to run a BBL club that attracted crowds of 2000.

Maybe it covered that very long list of things that Newby would have been responsible for (it was a hell of a job description IIRC, and coaching the BBL team looked like a bit of an afterthought), and the uni then received income from all those programmes. Likewise they may have then paid rent on the venue from that £350k uni money. There's nothing dodgy in that.

Maybe someone would like to go through the accounts with a fine tooth comb, I certainly haven't the time or inclination, and I doubt they'd provide the detail needed.

I was gutted when I saw this news. Even though my time at Wolves wasn’t perfect, it helped put the club on the map and I’m still glad I was able to play a small part in that process of becoming a competitive, legitimate BBL set up. I was initially given 20k budget for the entire player’s salaries. I convinced the directors to increase that lots, but no where near 140k. We’d win every trophy if I had that budget today. Hands down.

Don’t over think it though. Just support the club. The club needs the Wolf Pack now more than ever! I learned first hand that Mick Donovan won’t let anything get in the way of the club he built for all of you and for the betterment of the sport in Worcester and the UK. He probably still hasn’t taken a penny for himself? I highly doubt it. He simply loves to graft and scrap and loves the Wolves. Even though he was horribly wrong in that particular scenario when I left in 2010, he thought he was protecting the club. Mick is extremely reflective in his thought processes and this EBL step back definitely isn’t a decision he took lightly.

He definitely has a plan, and I’m sure it’s a plan that will put the club in a better position to compete and win more consistently in the BBL in the future. I personally think he’s too smart and prudent and ultimately protective of the Wolves to possibly jeopardize the club’s future with even the remote possibility of another tough year if Covid causes more totalitarian government orders.

That being said, the only big mistake Mick has ever made in his Directing of the Wolves is not letting me carry on playing and coaching. We were on the brink of turning the corner and winning big. As soon as I became better at the nuances of doing both and Mick also grew as a BBL Director, we would have been with the Eagles year in year out. But, upper management’s impatience is common in sport. That being said, Fab wasn’t an overnight success at Eagles. He needed a number of years to sort out his relentless competitive nature and step back a bit as a player. Something I would have definitely done as I became more comfortable. That being said, I had the option to only coach my 3rd year and I regret I didn’t take that opportunity as I think the BBL and any pro league is 90% about the players on the court- or more! For example, Nick Nurse was the BEST COACH on the planet with Kawhi at the Raptors….but now? He’s just another NBA basketball coach now that he lost his top dog! A rich one, but it’s not rocket science folks! It’s a simple game. If you can see what a good player looks like and you get him to your club, you’ll eventually get more of the right players as the club grows and you’ll win and win and win.

Shoot, it coulda been worse for Wolves fans. Mick coulda got Dennis Rodman to play in a handful of games, put some money in his pocket, then just folded the club and went home to Ireland? ☘️ Brighton Bears style.

Nurse was a hustler though. Still is. I respect that relentless hustle and imagination and creativity, just like I respect Mick Donovans decision with going to the EBL and regrouping to protect his club for all of us Wolves that are proud to have been a part of the Packs past, present and future! Go Wolves!

Worthing
Capital - for 3 years

All clubs will need ongoing Govt support I'm sure

And will still be trying to figure out what income they will have available to spend

I'm not sure how confirming players can help the clubs know what their income will be


Last season we had assembled a squad whilst making it clear we needed Govt support asap to survive
Do we have a start date for the new season yet?