THE co-owners of Worcester Warriors paid tribute to the legacy left by Jed McCrory and acknowledged “we wouldn’t have been here” without their exiting partner.

McCrory last week left Sixways eight months after bringing together a consortium to buy the Premiership outfit.

Co-owner Colin Goldring said there had been “no disappointment at all” over McCrory accepting an offer to buy his stake with business partner Jason Whittingham highlighting the connections the outgoing director had made with councils, schools and the community.

READ MORE | How owners plan to take Warriors to "top six and beyond" 

“I am very pleased my partner Jason and I are the 100 per cent owners of the Warriors,” said Goldring.

“It was not so much Jed stepping down as Jason and I having a passion for the business and wanting to carry on together.

“We are like family as well as friends and business partners. Our passion for the place was so strong that we wanted to invest a lot of time and money into growing this business.

“Jed had other interests elsewhere. We made an offer, it was not so much him resigning as us buying him out. The natural consequence of that was Jed stepping down from the board.

“It ran efficiently before. Jason and I are very efficient in the way we do business together and have the same moral principles, we come up with different perspectives on things which encourages debate between us.

“Ultimately we arrive at decisions together. It works really well.”

Whittingham added: “Jed brought energy and enthusiasm to the club and gave Colin and I the opportunity to get involved. We were always under the impression the club had neglected community to a degree and I don’t just mean through schools but with fan engagement, that element of it.

“Jed was very keen to re-engage with all of the schools that may have dropped off the radar and that is one thing he does well.

“I guess he made us aware of elements that don’t go with Morecambe (Football Club, owned by Goldring and Whittingham) and of things that needed to happen at this club with community, schools and councils, things we hadn’t previously experienced.

“We wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for Jed and he livened the place up.

“Certain elements of the club benefited. He didn’t get involved in the day-to-day stuff, that was where Colin and I came in which we were happy with anyway.

“We are very hands-on with the business and brought in a new operations director, Peter Kelly. Jed got on with some of the bigger things.

“We have a good relationship with councillors, access to communities and schools, plans for an academic centre here and did have some initial concepts for hotels because of Jed.”

  • Worcester News will be publishing an in-depth look at each part of the co-owners' plans, beginning with the finances on Saturday.