NORTH WALES CRUSADERS’ future has been thrown into doubt after their owners pledged not to “fund the additional costs” of running the club.
The Colwyn Bay club was taken over in December 2024 by The Eggchasers Group, a sports goods retailer which boasted of being “rooted in rugby”.
Under father-and-son duo Bobby and Arun Watkins, the sole directors, North Wales won the League One title last year before joining the merged Championship division.
But numerous players claimed to have received wages late following their title win, and there have been reports this week that players had not yet received their payments for March.
In a statement released on Thursday, the club said they must “alter their business plan” in order for their position to be tenable, raising questions over their short- and long-term future.
It said: “Due to a change in circumstances, the owners of the North Wales Crusaders have concluded that they will no longer fund the additional costs to run the club with immediate effect.
“Initially involved at the back end of 2024, the owners cleared a lot of historical issues and debts, and invested in a squad to win League One.
“The current situation with regard to costs and competitive league set-up isn’t tenable for the owners and an adjustment to the business plan is needed.
“The shareholders have been working in the background to identify suitable partners who may provide a combination of values that would be ideal to give North Wales Crusaders an opportunity to thrive, making the move of the talent, location and facilities.
“As yet we do not have an agreement in place, so we want to make public that we are looking for a new majority shareholder, someone with the passion for the project in North Wales that we have.
“We recognise that this will create uncertainty and would ask at this point for all North Wales-invested supporters to get behind the club, staff and players.”