Revived London Irish target Championship return as early as next season under new owners

London Irish, who collapsed in 2023, are targeting a return to Championship Rugby as early as next season after Essex entrepreneur Steve Daniels completed his purchase of the club’s name, brand and intellectual property.

Daniels, 47, an amateur rugby player who co-founded energy firm PE Solutions — which reportedly grew to a turnover of £1.4bn within seven years — acquired the Exiles through his firm Gamechanger Investments. He has already hired former England scrum-half Kyran Bracken as a director and is a partner of the Rugby Football Union.

Chief executive Jamie Balls confirmed the club’s immediate ambition is a place in the Championship, with the Gallagher Premiership as the longer-term goal. “We would love to be in the Champ at the earliest opportunity, and if there’s an opportunity next season and they allow us to do so, we would like to go then. If it’s not then, we’ll wait another year,” Balls said.

Daniels purchased the club from Kyle Jordan — son of the late Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan — and Daniel McKeown. London Irish had been linked with a move to the United Rugby Championship, but Balls was clear that the English pyramid remains the club’s intended route back to the top flight. “There is no entry to the PREM until we get the details of what’s happening in 2029-2030. If we’re going anywhere, it will be the Champ,” he said.

The club currently has neither a ground nor a training facility. Balls indicated they are in talks to acquire their former state-of-the-art training base, the Hazelwood Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames, while a short-term stadium solution is also being explored. AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane has been among the venues linked with the club.

Longer term, Balls outlined ambitions for a new-build stadium, though he acknowledged that timeline stretches to three to five years even with planning pre-applications already in motion. He stressed that any move must keep the club anchored in south-west London, citing the Exiles’ previous relocation to Brentford as a cautionary tale. “Moving too far away from south-west London is not a good thing to do. We need to be in that area,” he said.

Balls also pointed to the Championship’s renewed energy as an encouraging backdrop, referencing the attention surrounding Cornish Pirates and their celebrity investor Nick Knowles. “The Champ has got a buzz about it again, which is fantastic,” he said, adding that a model similar to Worcester Warriors’ recent revival could serve as a template for the Exiles’ own rebuild.