The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

[Heathen]

What are the odds that it will ever be revealed? I would never trust the EAs to come clean.

[Neils]

Now - I cannot believe the other clubs (esp Exeter and Quins) would not ensure that the whole dirty thing is made fully public. All we have so far is an EA specific leak.

[Tervueren]

Releasing the report is important, but only so far. Based on the leak-to-date many (most?) will think "well that is just what they got done for and is the tip of the iceberg" others (EAs) will think "they were harshly punished for mistakes involving a few players and that the whole Saracens empire building exercise is fundamentally sound".

Perhaps all we can hope for is that a new regime is in place for regulation and that further transgressions will be prevented. Then we can see how they do on a level playing field, though even that might take a while to settle.

[matelot22]

Oh God, I just couldn't help myself, I went and looked at their board on SN. I don't need to tell our learned readers the general gist of the comments

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Oh God, I just couldn't help myself, I went and looked at their board on SN. I don't need to tell our learned readers the general gist of the comments

Let me guess. 

Saint Nigel of Barnet is being pilloried by jealous idiots who care for nothing but destroying the towering genius of the High Priest McCall's creation?

All they have ever done is pay their players a fair deal, and everyone else has almost certainly cheated more.  They are being unfairly punished because it somehow distracts from the much more heinous crimes of every other single club in the world?

[Brandnewtorugby]

To be fair (oh the irony!), I would be filtering  anything that had a positive spin if it were Wasps.

[Tervueren]

Not sure what positive spins there are, just fewer negative ones that we all hoped, but then this was an investigation of specific issues not a total forensic trawl of everything.

I love the defence of the house purchase being fine because Ashton left shortly afterwards, so in no way was there an agreement that he was underpaid during his time and then got a bung at a later date.

How the image rights valuation was arrived at needs examination as to be that far apart with 2 valuations.... however, I cannot believe that any of our esteemed audit companies would ever do anything dodgy.

As for the joint investments, how can making loans to a company that is jointly owned by St Nige and a player ever be seen as legitimate investment and not a deliberate evasion of the cap?

Hopefully the rest of the iceberg is about to hit below the waterline.

[southamwasp]

It would seem to me that the full extent of this prolonged cheating will never be known. Without a full examination of all the players bank accounts etc and St Nigels companies and those of his children and minions the truth will never be known. Who in todays current climate pays somebody 30k a year to do nothing....apart from Nigels daughter. What else we may never know as Wray is not going to open all his companies for examination.   

[Neils]

Fisslers Twitter feed has a link to the whole report.
Sorry in M&S so can't copy.

[Tervueren]

https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/fa097ce0-fc01-4b01-bbb0-e147ffa67de6.pdf

[matelot22]

Oh God, I just couldn't help myself, I went and looked at their board on SN. I don't need to tell our learned readers the general gist of the comments

Let me guess. 

Saint Nigel of Barnet is being pilloried by jealous idiots who care for nothing but destroying the towering genius of the High Priest McCall's creation?

All they have ever done is pay their players a fair deal, and everyone else has almost certainly cheated more.  They are being unfairly punished because it somehow distracts from the much more heinous crimes of every other single club in the world?

VV, our very own resident psychic!!!

[Raggs]

Earned themselves 70 points worth of deduction in the last 3 seasons, and over the cap again (and clearly not by just £100k, there's no way they could judge that already) this season. No sympathy.

[matelot22]

To be fair (oh the irony!), I would be filtering  anything that had a positive spin if it were Wasps.

I'd say, initially it would be human nature to do so, but I feel their fans are way past the point of defending the indefensible.

If Wasps had done the same, I would be taking my support to my local team, and have nothing more than a passing interest in the premiership. It would hurt a lot to sever my interest in the club I have loved for many years, but this has ruined the sport for many, myself included over recent months. I hope now they have been busted I can watch the premiership with the same enthusiasm I had prior to salarygate.

[wasps]

To be fair (oh the irony!), I would be filtering  anything that had a positive spin if it were Wasps.

I'd say, initially it would be human nature to do so, but I feel their fans are way past the point of defending the indefensible.

If Wasps had done the same, I would be taking my support to my local team, and have nothing more than a passing interest in the premiership. It would hurt a lot to sever my interest in the club I have loved for many years, but this has ruined the sport for many, myself included over recent months. I hope now they have been busted I can watch the premiership with the same enthusiasm I had prior to salarygate.

It's worth remembering that it's the vocal minority that are often heard on message forums

Same as those on Sky Blues Talk

and the same on another Wasps forum when the move to Coventry occurred.


I'm sure there's a great many Saracens fans who feel wronged by their club as much as they do by Premier Rugby

[matelot22]

To be fair (oh the irony!), I would be filtering  anything that had a positive spin if it were Wasps.

I'd say, initially it would be human nature to do so, but I feel their fans are way past the point of defending the indefensible.

If Wasps had done the same, I would be taking my support to my local team, and have nothing more than a passing interest in the premiership. It would hurt a lot to sever my interest in the club I have loved for many years, but this has ruined the sport for many, myself included over recent months. I hope now they have been busted I can watch the premiership with the same enthusiasm I had prior to salarygate.

It's worth remembering that it's the vocal minority that are often heard on message forums

Same as those on Sky Blues Talk

and the same on another Wasps forum when the move to Coventry occurred.


I'm sure there's a great many Saracens fans who feel wronged by their club as much as they do by Premier Rugby

A good point well made. I do wish they would speak up though in condemning Wray and all others who were party to this cluster. If Wray and his cronies were removed, it would go a long way to remove the tarnish I believe. I also realise, "who will take the club on now", is another big problem.