Slightly OT: Have they not learned?

[Rossm]

Bath sign Finn Russell for £1m per season as Premiership club continue rebuild

Bath have signed Finn Russell for next season on a deal worth £1m a year, making the Scotland fly-half one of the highest-earning players in Premiership history.

Telegraph Sport understands that Russell is expected to be a marquee player for Bath, meaning his wages sit outside of the salary cap, and his signature will be confirmed in the coming days.

The move is thought to have been finalised on Friday after a positive meeting between Russell and Johan van Graan, the Bath head coach.

It comes as Bath also close in on the signing of Springboks tighthead prop Thomas du Toit, which was first reported by The Rugby Paper, and as two England internationals, Will Stuart and Sam Underhill, finalise contract extensions.

With the recent acquisitions of Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill from Worcester Warriors and Alfie Barbeary from Wasps, Van Graan is overseeing an eye-catching squad revamp. Further re-signings are expected to follow.

The link between Russell, 30, and Bath was first revealed by the Daily Mail last month. Recent speculation, however, suggested that he could stay in the Top 14 or even relocate to Japan. Van Graan has now landed the 65-cap Scotland star as a key figure in a significant rebuild.

Russell returned to the Test fold in the autumn as Scotland signed off for the year by thrashing Argentina 52-29. His experience will no doubt aid the development of Orlando Bailey, the talented Bath playmaker, at The Rec and dovetail with highly-rated attack coach Joe Maddock.

The coup is also a boon for the Premiership as a whole given Russell’s entertaining style, not least because a reduced salary cap had seemed to decrease the number of high-profile imports to the league. The salary cap is due to rise again for the 2024-25 campaign.

During Russell’s time at Racing, the Parisian club reached the 2020 Champions Cup final, where they lost 31-27 to Exeter Chiefs. Despite reaching the latter stages of domestic and European competition, they have missed out on silverware since Russell arrived in 2018 to replace Dan Carter.

Considering their other signings, a close look at Bath's books could be warranted.

[coddy]

So they would have something like 40 players sharing a 5 million wage bill and then one player picking up a cool million on his own? Not sure thats the template for good business or squad morale.


( not off topic in any way as Rugby related )

[WonkyWasp]

... er ... what is the going price for a chain of coffee houses in Bath............  ?

[Skippy]

Sounds like “something special” might be happening at Bath.

[Neils]

Sounds like “something special” might be happening at Bath.

Yes Craig opened his wallet.

[jamestaylor002]

The clubs not learning is something I expected, especially with the likes of Bath having Bruce Craig and other clubs having sugar daddies.

What worries me is that the clubs continue to have too much control over the way that the Prem is run and how certain clubs could be protected where others have been allowed to die (do you really think PRL would let any of Tigers/Saracens/Northampton/Exeter etc be left to collapse like us and Worcester were?)

[Vespula Vulgaris]

(do you really think PRL would let any of Tigers/Saracens/Northampton/Exeter etc be left to collapse like us and Worcester were?)

Yes, absolutely. I don't think there was anything personal in what happened. I just think PRL is a bunch of rich old men who only give a toss about their own interests. If the EAs lost their source of money the only question the people in PRL would be asking themselves is how can they turn it to their benefit. I think the RFU would suddenly find the desire to offer central contracts to certain players, but none of the other clubs would help at all.

[Shugs]

It’s the Bath way. Sign lots of expensive players who are let’s say “less hungry” than some other players. Stick them in with some good squad players and hope it works. Which it hasn’t. I hate to say it but I doubt they’ll get many consecutive games out of Alfie.

[mike909]

It’s the Bath way. Sign lots of expensive players who are let’s say “less hungry” than some other players. Stick them in with some good squad players and hope it works. Which it hasn’t. I hate to say it but I doubt they’ll get many consecutive games out of Alfie.

That's a little harsh - lovely people go to Bath (I got married there!)

I'd guess that they might - after the 2014/15 final be thinking "Why not us"? We've got the cash - and that year - what was a good side - was beaten by "Peak EA's" Decent season in 16/17 but team gradually departing. Crawled back to the semis in 2019/20 - but fell off a cliff last season and seemed to lack any leadership on or off the field

I do think they've got a bit of an "air" about them and some of their supporters - but I find it hard to dislike them, like the EA's...And I have to maintain middling knowledge so I can take the Mick out of neighbour supporters....

[Shugs]

I don’t dislike them at all. I just think they get recruitment wrong on a very regular basis.

[mike909]

I don’t dislike them at all. I just think they get recruitment wrong on a very regular basis.

I was being imprecise....reconsidering my comment - I do dislike some of their supporters - for obvious reasons...but not the club. Many of my fav players of the time were with them towards 2014/15.

I do think they were doing ok through to the point when players and coaches were not part of a plan. Well that's how it seemed - I really liked their 2014/15 team and it had been assembled fine - but was EA'd. After that, it did seem to lose focus to be kind.

[Shugs]

They have some fantastic talent. Redpath could be something special.

[Neils]

They have some fantastic talent. Redpath could be something special.

Correction - is

[baldpaul101]

Quite a few expensive players have already gone from Bath & I would expect a few more to be going at the end of the season.
If Russell is their marquee player I doubt they will be over the cap.
Not sure of he is worth it IMO, when he's good, he's very special but when he's bad, he's terrible. He had 4 kicks charged down in their euro game at the weekend. Not good enough for an international no 10...

[Harry the wasp]

They announced on Twitter that they’ve let Billy Searle go an hour ago.