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Stricken Saracens' furloughs and swingeing pay deferrals
By Online Editors
Saracens have revealed they have implemented swingeing pay cuts and deferrals in the hope that the relegated Gallagher Premiership club can survive the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Londoners, who have been automatically relegated to the Championship for 2020/21 followed repeated salary cap breaches, are under severe financial pressure, a problem not helped by the imminent loss of Allianz, their prime sponsor.
With no firm indication that the suspended Premiership season will be restarting any time soon, owner Nigel Wray and chairman Neil Golding have addressed the entire squad, coaches and senior staff to explain the latest raft of measures they are taking to stay afloat.
“I have never in my life experienced anything like this and indeed nor have the rest of us,” said Wray in a club statement. “The devastating wholesale loss of life, the potential destruction of the economy, millions of people out of work, tens of thousands of companies closed down - maybe forever - and all really because in most recessions demand drops, but it doesn’t drop to zero overnight.”
The stark financial outlook has left Saracens admitting they will be participating in the government furloughing scheme. In addition, they have also asked players and all employees earning over £75,000 to defer payment of their salaries - over and above this amount - until the start of the 2020/21 season.
The amounts deferred will then be repaid over an 18-month period from the start of the 2020/21 season. “Covid-19 has had huge ramifications on every facet of society and rugby is no different,” accepted Maro Itoje, one of the club’s numerous England internationals.
“This is not an easy time for the players and the club alike. But in order to see this through, the whole organisation needs to pull together and do what we can for the future of Saracens RFC and our individual career’s within the sport. We as a playing group would like to send our support and thanks to all of the healthcare workers who are risking their lives for us in the battle against Covid-19.”
Chairman Golding added: “We understand this is really tough for everyone, but the reality is that the only way to survive this unprecedented situation as a club is to make these adjustments. The board are very optimistic that this is a short-term issue and are taking steps to secure future funding which will put the club on a very sound financial footing.
“We want to continue to grow our brand which extends far beyond the pitch with our incredible Saracens Sport Foundation and Saracens High School. We understand the weight of responsibility that comes with having nurtured one of the greatest rugby clubs in the world and what it means to all our fans.”
Wray concluded: “I’m delighted that everyone is pulling together in this crisis. It’s easy being a family in the good times, but Saracens have shown this season there’s a genuine family spirit in the bad times too. I and my family have devoted 25 years to this club, and I believe that once we get through this, we will come out stronger together.”
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Stephen Larkham, Mick Byrne, Scott Wisental, Ben Mowen, Les Kiss, Jim McKay, Rod Kafer.
There are plenty of great Australian coaches who could do a better job than Schmidt.
Go to commentsThis piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.
I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.
Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.
The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.
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