Martin St. Quinton has become the sole owner of Rugby Premiership club Gloucester after buying the Walkinshaw family's share, according to the BBC. Club vice chair and businessman St. Quinton bought a 25% stake in the Cherry and Whites in '08, and later purchased a further 15%. Tom Walkinshaw took over the club in '97, with son Ryan then replacing the former Formula 1 team boss. St. Quinton said, "This club isn't broken, there's a lot of good things. My goal will be to fill the stadium every week, if you can fill the stadium every week you can have a fantastic atmosphere here at Kingsholm, and you're only going to fill the stadium if you're playing attractive rugby and you're winning" (BBC, 2/15). The BELFAST TELEGRAPH reported Ryan Walkinshaw put Gloucester up for sale in April "but despite interest from a consortium led by former Australia back-rower Rocky Elsom, he was unable to find a buyer." St. Quinton admitted he would have been forced to leave "with a heavy heart" had the Walkinshaw family received a bid to match its valuation for the entire club, understood to have been £25M ($36M). Since '10 the Walkinshaws have extended motor sport business interests in Australia, and "will now focus their energies in that direction after selling Gloucester." St. Quinton has completed his takeover "without any other financial support," which will leave Gloucester "well-funded" given his business success in the fields of office equipment and mobile equipment. St. Quinton also chaired a fundraising group to levy £50M ($72.2M) for the recent major redevelopment of Cheltenham Racecourse (BELFAST TELEGRAPH, 2/15).
