The Bath chief executive, Bob Calleja, today conceded that the club was likely to move out of its home at the Recreation Ground because plans to redevelop the stadium will not be able to accommodate the growing spectator interest in rugby.
Bath have been locked in talks for most of this decade with the Charity Commission to increase the capacity at the ground from 10,500 to 15,000, but Calleja questioned whether that would be enough and said that negotiations had stalled to the point where annual planning permission for the temporary east stand had yet to be granted, meaning the club has not been able to sell season tickets.
"If we do not permission for the stand, the capacity next season will be 8,500," said Calleja. "It is too late to look for an alternative home. We have done everything we can to keep rugby at the Rec, but we have reached the point where sentiment has to take second place to hard-headed business decisions.
"The way the game is growing means that we should be looking at a ground which can hold 20,000 spectators at least and that would mean moving out of the Rec. We have identified two sites, five miles to the east and west of Bath, but nothing has been decided yet. Negotiations with the commission have stalled and we have to protect the club moving forward, looking at everything objectively and realistically.
"Players have expressed their concern at our facilities, and you cannot blame them really. At the moment, we meet all the A list criteria for membership of the Premiership. That will not be the case in a couple of years time, which would leave us vulnerable should we be relegated. That is why we have to act quickly."
The commission oversees the ground because of the land's charitable status. A condition of Bath's lease is that the Rec is not used solely for business purposes, the main stumbling block in the talks over redevelopment.
"We are not making an empty threat to force the commissioners into action," said Calleja. "It is no use increasing the capacity to 15,000 and then finding it is not enough. We have reached the urgent stage." Calleja is concerned by the financial advantage clubs like Leicester, who are redeveloping Welford Road to take the capacity to 30,000, will have over Bath.
The Tigers are looking for someone to head up their coaching team after firing Marcelo Loffreda last week. The former Leicester and England flanker Neil Back has emerged as a contender should the club appoint a new head coach, with the former Tigers and New Zealand centre, Daryl Gibson, a candidate to take charge of the backs. Should a director of rugby be required, the former South Africa coach Jake White would be in the frame.
Loffreda said it would take time for him to get over his dismissal. "It hurts too much," he said. "Leicester is a club which needs permanent success, something that does not breed tolerance. I knew some board members wanted my departure and in the last few weeks there was a lot of pressure which weakened me mentally. It was very traumatic having to move to England and it is again having to come home now. I gave it my best."
