AFTER much silence over Christmas, there seems to be some developments in the situation at Worcester Warriors.

The club has been in administration since the end of September and since then, the club has emptied after contracts were terminated in early October.

After a month of negotiations, the administrators - Begbies Traynor- revealed that the consortium (Atlas Worcester Warriors Rugby Club Ltd) fronted by Jim O'Toole and James Sandford had been granted preferred bidder status, meaning they were in pole position to agree terms on a purchase of the club.

But after a couple more months of talks, the bid hit a stumbling block when the RFU rejected the takeover due to 'insufficient information' about funding.

Without the RFU's approval of the bid, rugby would be unable to return at Sixways.

That seemed to force the administrators to open the floor and listen to new offers, but they confirmed that financially, the Atlas bid remained the best offer.

However, rumours circling on social media seemed to suggest that maybe former Worcester director of rugby Steve Diamond was closing in on a deal to buy the club.

But as of January, Monday 9 Begbies' Julie Palmer told the Worcester News that currently, Atlas' bid remains the front runner; "They (Atlas) are still the highest bidder and probably most advanced in terms of funding."

Palmer also confirmed that Begbies "have not heard anything officially nor have we received any improved bids" in regards to rumours about Diamond's supposed bid.

But it at least seems that there are options on the table.