Saracens

[Kofi Annan]

Saracens chairman Nigel Wray describes rugby's salary caps as a farce as documents show club's mounting debts have reached £40m... the most in rugby history
Documents show club’s wage bill soared by another £1million last season
That's despite remaining the subject of a salary cap investigation
Saracens chairman Nigel Wray says rugby’s salary caps rules as ‘a farce’
The Mail on Sunday can reveal Saracens’ mounting debt has topped £40m

Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has dismissed rugby’s salary caps rules as ‘a farce’ in financial documents seen by The Mail on Sunday that show his club’s wage bill soared by another £1million last season alone — even as they remain the subject of a salary cap investigation.
A fortnight after the shock departure of chief executive Edward Griffiths and three months since the revelation that the north London club are being investigated by Premier Rugby for alleged salary cap breaches, The Mail on Sunday can reveal Saracens’ mounting debt has topped £40m — the most in rugby history. The rising costs facing the club are also a concern, with the wage bill leaping more than 50 per cent in three years.
Saracens now owe £41.6m, according to new filings at Companies House, much of it funded by an unsecured loan from long-standing benefactor Wray and a consortium of South African business associates.

The employee wage bill ballooned to £9.1m last year and, with Wray admitting further losses lie ahead, there are growing concerns about the club’s financial health. A move by Saracens last December to scrap the salary cap — which is currently £5m but was £4.5m in the period covered by the new figures — drew no public support from other Premiership clubs.
With discussions ongoing over the viability of ring-fencing the top flight, or at least restricting promotion and relegation, Wray has restated that the salary cap must be scrapped. ‘We need to change the farce whereby we are all operating under different rules,’ wrote Wray in a chairman’s statement in the club’s annual accounts seen by The Mail on Sunday. ‘We have one wage cap, the Irish provinces have no wage cap, the French clubs a wage cap twice ours, all of which makes no sense whatsoever. It needs to be changed.
‘In financial terms, it was another difficult year [2013-14]. Having been involved in professional rugby now for 20 years, I’m constantly amazed how hard it is to break into people’s culture.


‘The big cities have that soccer culture but built over 100 years. Allianz Park [the purchase of] is a vast step forward and gives us a permanent home but we still have much to do. We could, of course, cut costs very considerably — for example a top French club has a medical staff of three, far smaller than ours. But we really don’t see how you can aspire to be one of the best club sides in Europe if you don’t have a fantastic support system for the players.’
The club have lost on average just over £5m per year over the past four years, more than doubling its debt burden in that period.
Annual accounts for 2013-14 show the club’s parent company carry no legal obligation to service the debt, meaning they could technically walk away at any time and leave the club insolvent.
Of most interest to their Premiership rivals will be the dramatic hike in salaries paid to employees, which rose from just over £8.1m to more than £9.1m last year


The club took on 24 new staff in that time, nine of them players and coaches, but with the salary cap set at just £4.5m last season — not allowing for one ‘marquee player’ who theoretically could earn an unlimited salary but in reality will not get more than £500,000 — questions persist over the club’s salary structure. Even allowing for the unlikely scenario of a £1m budget for coaching staff, that would leave more than £3m in staff costs for 54 administrative staff — an average salary of more than £55,000.
A Premier Rugby spokesman said: ‘Saracens have recently moved into a new purpose-built stadium, Allianz Park — which is a huge asset to the local community — with a number of new staff added.

[Snipe Watson]

Is it just I'm missing something Kofi, or how can the removal of a salary cap make the situation better for a financial black hole with limited income streams?

[Wee Woman]

This amuses me - greatly.

I want an admin job at Sarries

Must have been all those loss making record breaking games at Wembley wot done it

[Kofi Annan]

Is it just I'm missing something Kofi, or how can the removal of a salary cap make the situation better for a financial black hole with limited income streams?

Because he is deluded.

[Snipe Watson]

Is it just I'm missing something Kofi, or how can the removal of a salary cap make the situation better for a financial black hole with limited income streams?

Because he is deluded.

I struggle to wish him well.

[Wee Woman]

Saracens global rugby ambitions will never come to anything because nobody likes them. It's as simple as that.

The investors would be better cutting their loses as it ain't going anywhere other than further into the red.

[Rooster]

I am struggling to work out how this works, they have debts of £40 million but the parent company can walk away which begs the question, who has secured the loan facility as you just can't keep paying wages without having money coming out of a bank somewhere and I doubt any bank would be happy to have a £40 million loan with no security.

[Jackie Brown]

A club I'd be happy to see go bust and die. Just wish they'd hurry up and call their debts in, they'll never get their money back.

[Rooster]

While Sarries aspire to spending money like a French club if they were actually in France they would not meet the financial requirements to stay in the Top14.
A plastic lego kit stadium does not have the capacity to bring in anywhere near enough cash to meet current bills never mind double the salary cap, the mention of the Irish having no salary cap is a total red herring as we have the even tighter restriction of numbers of NIQ players which self limits the spending anyway.
Wonder why Mr Ed upped his sticks and left suddenly? Left or pushed?

[Russ]

While Sarries aspire to spending money like a French club if they were actually in France they would not meet the financial requirements to stay in the Top14.
A plastic lego kit stadium does not have the capacity to bring in anywhere near enough cash to meet current bills never mind double the salary cap, the mention of the Irish having no salary cap is a total red herring as we have the even tighter restriction of numbers of NIQ players which self limits the spending anyway.
Wonder why Mr Ed upped his sticks and left suddenly? Left or pushed?

CEO left as he knew it was in the brad pitt. Didn't want it on his CV

Sorries are a shambles

Interesting to see there was no support for raising the salary cap

They play in a brad pitt stadium, with brad pitt fans, with Gatland players, with a twunt of an owner

Says it all really

[Snipe Watson]

While Sarries aspire to spending money like a French club if they were actually in France they would not meet the financial requirements to stay in the Top14.
A plastic lego kit stadium does not have the capacity to bring in anywhere near enough cash to meet current bills never mind double the salary cap, the mention of the Irish having no salary cap is a total red herring as we have the even tighter restriction of numbers of NIQ players which self limits the spending anyway.
Wonder why Mr Ed upped his sticks and left suddenly? Left or pushed?

CEO left as he knew it was in the brad pitt. Didn't want it on his CV

Sorries are a shambles

Interesting to see there was no support for raising the salary cap

They play in a brad pitt stadium, with brad pitt fans, with Gatland players, with a twunt of an owner

Says it all really

That's not the whole story Russ as I suspect you know. Their rugby side of things is good, they have a strong club with a great team ethos. It's just their support base and business model that defy logic.

[Snipe Watson]

Is it just I'm missing something Kofi, or how can the removal of a salary cap make the situation better for a financial black hole with limited income streams?

Because he is deluded.

Because he's fronting up a South African purchase of an English franchise where they are prepared to spend millions long term to establish a global brand to coin it in when world rugby hits the big time. Well, that's the theory. The Manchester United of rugby in brand terms.

It probably sounded a good idea when they set up the consortium. I always wonder is there a benefit outside the accounts for those involved. Or is it just a vanity project. Is it "I've invested £5m in Saracens but it's made me £10m in my other business because I'm recognised as a mover and shaker" or is it just "I'm loaded - here's £5m sure it's just chump change - get me nice seats at the final please".

If Saracens is a business model for modern rugby we're all stuffed.

Sounds like a hundred year investment to me. I think it's Wray's vanity project. He has flogged all of his Dominos shares. Wonder how much of that he has sunk into the team? If the South African consortium decide it's a beaten docket and running away from them, can he hold it together alone?

[Russ]

Is it just I'm missing something Kofi, or how can the removal of a salary cap make the situation better for a financial black hole with limited income streams?

Because he is deluded.

Because he's fronting up a South African purchase of an English franchise where they are prepared to spend millions long term to establish a global brand to coin it in when world rugby hits the big time. Well, that's the theory. The Manchester United of rugby in brand terms.

It probably sounded a good idea when they set up the consortium. I always wonder is there a benefit outside the accounts for those involved. Or is it just a vanity project. Is it "I've invested £5m in Saracens but it's made me £10m in my other business because I'm recognised as a mover and shaker" or is it just "I'm loaded - here's £5m sure it's just chump change - get me nice seats at the final please".

If Saracens is a business model for modern rugby we're all stuffed.

Sounds like a hundred year investment to me. I think it's Wray's vanity project. He has flogged all of his Dominos shares. Wonder how much of that he has sunk into the team? If the South African consortium decide it's a beaten docket and running away from them, can he hold it together alone?

No

[Dave]

If they want the salary cap increased and they are 40 million in debt, then they clearly have a lot more money to burn. Wendyball clubs like chelski and man city make huge losses on the books but have that endless injection of cash. It will all end in tears one day.

[Snipe Watson]

I suspect that is the case Russ, but where is the rationale behind the whole project? It must be clear that Rugby is not going to be the product to deliver the kind of returns needed to make it work. The French bubble could burst any time too.