Baron calls for block on £296m PGP plan

FRANCIS Baron has called for the RFU Council to insist that the RFU Board puts a moratorium on the current PGP negotiations being undertaken by its chief executive Bill Sweeney, which is reportedly worth £296 million to the 10 remaining Premiership clubs. 

- NICK CAIN

Baron, a former RFU chief executive with outstanding fiscal credentials, says it is crucial that the brakes are put on a potentially ruinous financial transaction: “We have had four clubs go bust in the past year, three from the Premiership, and the Championship title-holders. The Premiership is clearly a broken model, and unless you have a viable business structure, the Premiership is not investable. Yet, the RFU is about to put almost £300m into a Premiership PGP deal in which there is no recovery plan visible.”

Baron said ahead of Friday’s Council meeting at Twickenham: “Based on the Board’s own financial forecasts, this is totally unaffordable. In addition, it does not have the support of the Championship clubs, the National Leagues clubs, and probably the majority of the county-elected Council members who represent the whole (community club) game.”