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Saracens' radical step in bid to head off more accusations about their finances from rival clubs
By Chris Jones
Saracens are to invite auditors to examine details of how they are currently operating under the Gallagher Premiership £7million salary cap in a bid to head off more accusations about their finances from rival clubs.
Saracens were fined £5.36million and deducted 35 points - putting them bottom of the league - after being found guilty of breaching the salary cap in each of the previous three years.
However, other Premiership clubs, led by Exeter Chiefs, believe there is still a smoking gun to be found in the financial affairs of the Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup double winners.
There have been calls for a mid-season audit to be taken which normally happens at the conclusion of the season. In response to this, RugbyPass understands the club will take the initiative and voluntarily open its doors to official scrutiny.
It is expected that Premiership Rugby Ltd, the umbrella organisation for England’s top flight, will be given the chance to ‘view the books’ through their official auditors.
(Continue reading below...)
Chiefs chairman Tony Rowe claimed in The Times newspaper on Monday that Saracens had also breached the regulations in the 2013/14 season and as a result of the continued negative publicity, Saracens are attempting to take some control over the situation.
The move to invite in auditors now is aimed at dismissing suspicions that Saracens are still operating above the £7m cap. The club has already made it clear they believe that after the fine and points penalty they are now "complying strictly with the salary cap regulations in the current season”.
Saracens maintain that their compliance with the salary cap was never part of the investigation which decided that co-investments between club owner Nigel Wray and leading players including Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell had to be included in earnings.
Despite insisting they had done nothing wrong, Saracens opted not to appeal against the fine and points deduction. Wray stated that the club would "work transparently with Premiership Rugby”. This latest move by the reigning English and European champions is aimed at proving that is now the case.
WATCH: Former Saracens player Jim Hamilton discusses the salary cap scandal surrounding his former club
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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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