How Saracens' arrogance and lack of contrition angered rival clubs
Daniel Schofield:- deputy rugby union correspondent - 17 JANUARY 2020 • 2200.
How different might have Saracens’ fate been had they accepted their initial punishment for breaching the salary cap over three seasons with genuine remorse and a promise to mend their ways?
Almost as soon as an independent disciplinary panel handed down an unprecedented 35-point deduction and £5.36 million fine on Nov 5 last year, Nigel Wray, then Saracens chairman, issued a stinging riposte. The club claimed they had done nothing wrong and would challenge the verdict while Wray said “the rug is being completely pulled out from under our feet.” A Q&A published on the club website stated the club were neither over the salary cap for the current season nor would they be forced to move on any players.
For rival clubs, who already believed that Saracens had got off lightly in Lord Dyson’s verdict, this was the equivalent of pouring kerosene on a flickering fire. While Tony Rowe, the Exeter chairman, was the most outspoken of Saracens’ critics calling for them to be thrown out of the league, other club executives were equally incensed by Saracens’ complete lack of contrition.
“Everyone knows Saracens have been cheating for years,” one executive told The Daily Telegraph. “This is not a case of doing the right thing the wrong way. They have been systematically cheating for years. They got caught and instead of saying ‘yes we are so sorry about this and we are going to change our ways’ they just didn’t even apologise for it. They still seem to be in this bubble that they have done nothing wrong.”
The Daily Telegraph understands that Premiership Rugby agreed public statements with Saracens only for Wray to go off script. The club pushed the line that the breaches were not deliberate, which hardened the other clubs’ collective opinion to the point of concrete. “This thing about the breach being accidental is nonsense,” another executive said. “You don’t accidentally buy someone a house or a holiday or a vineyard in South Africa.”
Although only one executive from each club was allowed to read Lord Dyson’s report in Premiership Rugby’s offices, it quickly emerged that Saracens were in breach of last season’s salary cap by more than £1 million. There was no chance that Saracens were going to be under the £7 million limit for this campaign having recruited England internationals Elliot Daly and Jack Singleton over the summer.
When Premiership Rugby agreed to conduct a mid-season audit of Saracens’ books, the writing was on the wall for the English and European champions. Their initial defence melted away as Nigel Wray resigned as chairman earlier this month and Edward Griffiths returned as interim chief executive. Griffiths immediately “unreservedly apologised for (the club’s) past mistakes.” That was too little too late.
With 10 of the 12 Premiership clubs already spending up to the salary cap, there was very little chance that Saracens could have offloaded enough players to stay compliant this season. One club said that they did inquire with Saracens about the availability of certain players only to be told that they expected a transfer fee. “Nobody is willing to pay a transfer fee so actually you have no intention of getting rid of players,” an insider said. “That’s what hardened the attitude.”
Hence the ultimatum from Premiership Rugby: agree to a full forensic audit of the club’s books, hand back their Premiership titles won in 2017 and 2019 and slash their wage bill or accept a further 35-point deduction that would effectively spell relegation. As one club insider said on Friday night: “How much wrongdoing must you have done to accept anything other than to have that audit?”
Reading the penultimate paragraph, I nearly blew a gasket! Transfer fee? Yeah gods are they completely mad?
Always a Wasp
