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Nigel Wray receives unlikely backing of comedy legend
By Josh Raisey
Saracens have endured one of the worst weeks off the field in living memory as they were handed a £5.36m fine by Premiership Rugby last Tuesday.
The three-time Champions Cup winners were also deducted 35 points in the Gallagher Premiership, after failing to disclose player payments over the past three years.
They have lodged an appeal, which means the deduction has been withheld for the time being, but chairman Nigel Wray has come under heavy scrutiny for the investments that he has made with various players in the team and companies set up in their name.
Wray has since highlighted in a statement that Premiership Rugby have acknowledged that Saracens did not intentionally seek to breach the salary cap, and has also made the distinction clear between a salary and an investment.
This is what he said in a statement last week: “It has been acknowledged by the Panel that we never deliberately sought to mislead anyone or breach the cap and that’s why it feels like the rug is being completely pulled out from under our feet.”
Since then, Wray has received the backing from Monty Python member, and his cousin. Eric Idle. The comedy legend described Wray as the “most honourable man I know,'' as well as “philanthropic, kind, generous” and emphasised that he has been pivotal in the “popularizing of rugby generally.”
Idle is not the first person to come out and support the way that Saracens is run, as the five-time Premiership winners are well known for the support in the local community, which includes founding a school. Additionally, the club have helped set up a number of businesses for the players to provide a life after rugby.
However, despite these endorsements, the reigning Premiership champions have still come under fire from chairmen, coaches and players and are much maligned for what has been deemed cheating, and they may struggle to shake that reputation.
Although there may be troubles behind the scenes, it was business as usual for the players last Saturday, as they overcame Gloucester 21-12 at Kingsholm amidst a hostile reception.
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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