Leicester Tigers is holding off publishing its annual accounts as it continues to weigh up the full financial impact of the pandemic.
With Leicester and Leicestershire headed straight into Tier 3 lockdown and no sign of fans getting back into the Welford Road ground any time soon, club management said they were still calculating the huge cost of Covid-19.
Back in the summer Tigers warned it could suffer a £10 million hit if didn’t get fans back into matches before the end of 2020. That deadline will now be missed.
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By comparison, total club turnover for the 12 months covering the 2018/19 season was £20 million.
The club has said that because of the size of its stadium and fan base it had been affected more than most Premiership Rugby clubs.
In recent months Tigers has made redundancies across many departments, and said goodbye to players including Kyle Eastmond, Noel Reid, Manu Tuilagi, Greg Batemen and Telusa Veainu as well as senior management including chief executive Simon Cohen – replaced by former COO Andrea Pinchen.
More recently, Tigers legends Rory Underwood and director of rugby Geordan Murphy both left the club within the space of 24 hours.
Murphy’s exit left existing head coach Steve Borthwick in sole command of the Tigers team.
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Interviewed on the club website Ms Pinchen said: “Who would have thought back in March that we would still be where we are.... still not having supporters in stadiums.
“As we said right at the onset this has been about getting through a period of time, getting Leicester Tigers to survive and then pushing on and progressing forward.”
She added: “If I didn’t believe we were in a stronger position now with a very clear objective of where we are going to moving forward, then you would need to question what we are doing.
“I absolutely believe, with the plan that we have in place, and the people that we have, and the strength that we will bring in, that we are moving forward and making the progress that we need to make.”
In a statement to shareholders, club chairman Peter Tom said the 2019/20 season had been challenging in “almost every respect”, and “extremely disappointing” on and off the field.
An appeal to bring in new backing had failed to attract the right investor, he said, while the finishing 11th in the league was “not acceptable to your board, our supporters, shareholders or any of our other stakeholders”.
Mr Tom said: “Whilst these challenges were significant enough on their own, Tigers has also endured the near-existential crisis of Covid-19.
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“The pandemic’s spread, measures to contain it and resurgences during 2020 have had a crushing impact on the club.
“Our priorities then, as now, have been the safety of players, staff and ensuring the club’s business endures the crisis and is capable of facing the future.
“We took prompt action to identify and implement cost savings, including renegotiating player contracts, reducing salaries and, regrettably, making a number of staff redundant.
“It was disappointing that this resulted in such negative and often inaccurate media coverage, which did little to help discussions with employees and stakeholders.
“Making people redundant is never easy and is especially heartbreaking when so many of them have been part of Tigers for so long and are let go in such difficult economic circumstances.
“I thank them all for everything they have done for the club over many years and express my admiration for the calm and supportive way in which they accepted the situation.
“My hope is that, when business returns to normal, we may be able to offer new roles to at least some of these people.”
He said Tigers’ finances had been helped by many season ticket holders leaving their money in the club to offset against their next season tickets.
And while Holland & Barrett was no longer the club’s main partner, Leicester-based Topps Tiles had stepped in.
Mr Tom said: “We had hoped to have fans back at Mattioli Woods Welford Road this autumn, but the resurgence of Covid-19 has prevented this.
“As the best-supported club in professional rugby, we have been hit hard by the lack of income from ticket sales and matchday hospitality.
“We, along with other sporting businesses and organisations in Leicester, continue to lobby the Government to allow some fans to attend matches as soon as the rate of infection has reduced to a level that makes this viable.”
He said they were delaying publication of the accounts for the 2019/20 season until next March.
He said: “It is my sincere hope that, by that time, the restrictions introduced to reduce the spread of the virus will have eased, enabling shareholders to attend this meeting.
“I am sorry that I will not see you at the AGM on December 17, but I trust these arrangements will enable an appropriate level of accountability and scrutiny whilst enabling all concerned to stay safe and well.
“In conclusion, this has been a year I am sure we would all rather forget.
“I believe we have come through the worst of the pandemic and have much to be optimistic about.
“As life returns to normal we can resume our efforts to put Tigers in its rightful place at the top of the domestic and European game.”