THE deadline for the Atlas consortium to complete their takeover at Worcester Warriors is less than 24 hours away.

Administrators Begbies Traynor last week produced their 27-page progress report into their dealings since being appointed at the club in September 2022. 

In that, they stated that Atlas had until May 2 to complete the takeover; "The terms of the sale agreement require Atlas to complete the transaction by May 2, 2023."

The 27-page document confirmed that Atlas were appointed on February 1 2023 when they paid an exclusivity fee of £500,000 as a non-refundable deposit, which triggered the start of the 90-day completion period.

At the start of April, the Atlas group spoke out for the first time since February, stating that completion of the transaction would be completed in time.

"We have shown our resource and commitment to the local community by taking on all running costs of the stadium and staff since exchange which in turn has given comfort to staff that the stadium would remain open, that they would be paid on time and that the Warriors Women, the Warriors Foundation, Midlands Academy, Worcester Raiders and the many other events could continue on-site while we move to completion in the coming weeks," said Atlas' Jim O'Toole.

"We look forward to bringing rugby back to Sixways as soon as possible, providing jobs for the local community and bringing back life to the venue which will benefit the whole community and our next statement will be in relation to completion in due course."

But with time running out, there remains question marks over whether the takeover will be completed in time. The Worcester News understands that an extension could be applied in order to give Atlas more time.