WORCESTER Warriors is up for sale – but a consortium involving Ed Griffiths will not be taking over at Sixways.

Chairman Bill Bolsover confirmed the Premiership club had been put on the market with a view to completing a deal within a year.

Bolsover revealed talks with ex-Saracens chief executive Griffiths, who briefly acted as an adviser to Warriors before exiting last month, had come to a dead end but that the club still had parties interested.

Rumours have been rife for a while over Worcester’s ownership, prompting the club to put out a statement that its search for investment involved no solid time frames.

It is the first recognition that the board is seeking an outright sale but Bolsover remains keen to reiterate that the clock is not ticking.

Asked about Griffiths, Bolsover said: “It is not one of the options any more. His option has been looked at by the major shareholder and he has decided that is not where he wants to go.

“That offer is certainly not on the table at the moment.”

On the sale, Bolsover continued: “We have a huge strength in our current major shareholder who is quite prepared to sustain what he puts into the club now but has said to us that in time, in the next year, he wants to move the club on.

“We are very lucky that we don’t have a date or a time to do it by and we have to find the right person to take this club on.

“It isn’t a matter of money, which sounds strange but it is not. They will continue to fund this club until they can find the right way to move it on.

“There are people who have showed interest because we have gone public but it will take the next two or three weeks at least to sift through how serious they are.

“What is important is the commitment they then give to this club. We will not sell without a commitment to stay in the Premiership and put so much into rugby.”

“We do not intend to be or feel we will be relegated this season,” he continued.

“We have to concentrate and get the fans, who have been incredibly supportive when we have played at home, behind us."

Bolsover described as “the elephant in the room” the precarious nature of Premiership club finances and suggested up to four league rivals would be willing to undergo a change of ownership.

However, he still feels Warriors have the edge when it comes to seeking a cash injection.

“Because we have had such a supportive shareholder, we are one of the only clubs that has absolutely no debt on its books,” he said.

“Every stand is paid for. All of the grounds are paid for, we have put a considerable amount of money into building up the amateur club’s facilities in the past two years and we now have the freeholds.

“The club sits here as an amazing opportunity. Most of the money we have lost has gone into the capital expenditure.”

On his own future, Bolsover added: “That’s not the important bit. The important thing is that this club moves on to the right owner at the right time.

“I am doing this role purely voluntarily and I will make sure my loyalty lies with getting this club to the right place. It is not important where I am after that process.”