London Irish confirm they're 'considering a number of offers of investment'

Majority shareholder Mick Crossan is looking to secure the club's future and is considering various investment options

Mick Crossan is on the lookout for new investment (Getty)

London Irish have confirmed that they are “considering a number of offers of investment” in order to take the club to the next level and challenge for the Premiership title following reports that they have been subject to a takeover offer.

With London Irish bottom of the Premiership table, an immediate return to the Championship looms unless they can overhaul the nine-point gap between themselves and 11th-placed Worcester Warriors. Their return to the top flight comes at the same time that the majority shareholder, Mick Crossan, expressed his concern at Irish’s ongoing financial losses, although he confirmed on Monday that he has no intention of leaving the club and has committed his long-term future to their board.

But he is on the lookout for further investment to help Irish push forward over the next few seasons, and with Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Football Union considering changes to the game that could feature a reduced number of teams in the Premiership and, as a result, mandatory relegation for certain clubs, it is a bad time to drop down to the Championship should the Exiles finish last this season.

“This year London Irish is 120 years old and I want to make sure that the club is secure for the next 120 years,” said Crossan.

“I am very much on board with the club for the long-term but we have been speaking to a number of investors about joining the current shareholders to help the club develop to the next level to become a real contender in the Aviva Premiership.

“The process is in the early stages but as you would expect with a club that has such a rich history, passionate supporter base and strong credentials, we have received a number of investment enquiries, however, London Irish will only entertain working with investors that offer long-term security and share the same passion for the club that the existing shareholders have.

“I am aware of the approach discussed in a recent article in The Telegraph and can confirm that we have not accepted any offers of investment to date.

“These are exciting times for London Irish as we consider our options for moving back to London so it is no surprise that we have received a lot of positive interest in investing in the club but we need to make sure that any investor who joins us has the best interests of the club at heart.”

Nick Kennedy still has the backing of the London Irish hierarchy (Getty)

Chief executive Brian Facer hopes that relegation can still be avoided this season, despite losing 12 Premiership matches in a row since opening their account at Twickenham with a surprising 39-29 win over Harlequins, and gave his full backing to the club’s director of rugby, Nick Kennedy, to turn their fortunes around this season.

“Our prime focus is currently on the Aviva Premiership and we are backing Nick and his team to secure the club’s survival in the league over the coming months,” Facer added. “We have shown that we can compete against the country’s best teams with close results against some of the top Aviva Premiership teams over the last two months.

“The spirit across the squad and the whole club is very committed and with the backing of our fantastic supporters, we know that this can translate into wins.

“The future of the club is also very strong with five London Irish senior academy players being selected for the England U20 squad.”

With the final round of the European Challenge Cup pool stage taking place this weekend before back-to-back Anglo-Welsh games, Irish will not resume their Premiership campaign until 10 February when the Six Nations is underway, and they will look to target the league games over February and March given that a number of stronger clubs will be missing key players due to international commitments.