Dear Member,
On behalf of your committee, I would like to take this opportunity to give our perspective on the two recent merger articles written by Sam Naylor Jr and Martin Poste from Northwich RUFC and published in the Northwich Guardian on 8th April 2020. While we accept the articles represent their personal opinions, we feel that we need to clarify our position on the suggested ‘merger’.
We are very disappointed that the subject of a merger has been raised in this way and that Winnington Park were not given prior notice of the articles or the chance to contribute. We believe the articles are misleading, in some part inaccurate and elements which are factually incorrect. The articles give the impression that Winnington Park have rejected the offer of a potential merger of the two clubs. This is not the case.
It is correct that preliminary discussions, at the request of Northwich RUFC, were held to consider the possibilities of a merger three years ago. These discussions ended abruptly when following a request by NRUFC, our head coach was asked to “shadow” the coaching team at Northwich to assist with his development. However, despite the agreement made, Northwich offered a coaching role to this person which left us without a coach for the forthcoming season.
In early January this year, we were once again approached by Northwich to informally discuss the possibility of a merger. Brian and I met Ken Jones, Chairman, and Martin Poste, who is their Director of Rugby. Constructive and positive discussions took place, and, in fact, it was positioned by Northwich as more of a takeover of them by us. We discussed many topics and agreed to meet with our respective Committees for further debate. The Committee agreed that the idea of a takeover/merger could be a constructive and positive way of furthering rugby within our town as long as all financial elements, committee setup, constitutional structure etc were agreed in full.
It was Northwich RUFC’s strong intention to complete the merger by September 2020, ready for the new season. We, however, did not believe that this was a realistic or viable timescale to complete a comprehensively planned and thoroughly balanced joining of the two clubs.
We firmly believed that if this were to happen and be successful, we would need to bring our club members along with us. We agreed that this was not possible in such a short period of time, and both clubs also had to finish the current season with Northwich in the hunt for promotion, and we were facing a relegation battle. All our efforts were firmly focussed on trying to make sure we avoided relegation.
We therefore decided that we were still open to discussing the option of a takeover/merger albeit over a longer timeframe than Northwich wanted. I communicated this to Ken Jones and whilst he was disappointed, he clearly understood and respected our stance and we agreed that discussions would continue at the end of the 19/20 season.
It is disappointing that Northwich then decided to go public on these confidential meetings and discussions, but decisions of this magnitude cannot be rushed, and Winnington Park will never be pressured into doing so by spurious newspaper articles published by the Guardian newspaper.
As Chairman and on behalf of your committee, I would like to reassure you that we will continue to act in a professional, transparent and constructive way to unwaveringly focus on the continued development of our magnificent club, invest in our mini and junior sections, rigorously review our spending and aim to play the highest standard of rugby we can achieve whilst simultaneously upholding all the elements of our constitution.
Best Regards
Paul Dean
Chairman
