Saracens owner Nigel Wray ‘sorry for heartache’ over salary cap breach
Written by News on 23/01/2020
The owner of Saracens has said he is “really sorry for the heartache” caused after the rugby union champions broke salary cap rules – resulting in their relegation for next season.
Sky News this week revealed details of the report into the breaches that have already seen the club docked 35 points and fined £5.3m.
Owner Nigel Wray was found to have made payments totalling £1.3m by entering into joint property ventures involving England stars Maro Itoje, Billy and Mako Vunipola, and former player Chris Ashton.
Other payments were also made to star player Itoje; for example buying a stake in his image rights company so the club could still come in under the salary cap.
There is no suggestion or evidence that any player was complicit in any of the club’s actions.
Saracens were found to have breached the salary cap in three consecutive seasons.
In 2016-17 the overspend was more than £1.1m, in 2017-18 it was just over £98,000 and in 2018-19 it was £906,000.
In a club statement on Thursday, Mr Wray said fans were owed a full explanation of the “one-off transactions that the [disciplinary] panel considered to be undeclared salary”.
He apologised to the club’s fans, saying: “I am really sorry for the heartache that I have caused you due to my ill-considered approach to matters relating to salary cap compliance.
“My intention with co-investments was always to support players beyond their playing careers.
“I recognise that the actions of the club were described by the panel as ‘reckless’ primarily due to my failure to consult with PRL’s salary cap manager prior to entering into any agreements and then disclosing the transactions to him.
“I take full responsibility for this. We should have been far better.
“Equally important is the panel’s determination that neither the club nor myself deliberately attempted to breach the cap.”
Mr Wray detailed how the property deals saw him and the players become shareholders of a company which bought “one or more buy-to-let properties”.
However, the disciplinary panel that sanctioned Saracens regarded Mr Wray’s investment into the venture as essentially being salary.
“I should have declared these transactions to the salary cap manager prior to signing off the agreements,” said Mr Wray.
“I mistakenly assumed that as I had entered into personal property agreements with players previously that had been signed off by the salary cap manager, a precedent had already been set.”
He also detailed the image rights deal he and two other directors struck with Maro Itoje, saying its purpose was to “grow the player’s off-field commercial activities and generate income”.
A hospitality deal with the player – also deemed to be undisclosed salary – was in the club’s view a “genuine commercial arrangement… not disguised salary”, added Mr Wray, who resigned as club chairman earlier this month.
He finished his statement by saying the club “had already started to implement new processes to ensure nothing like this happens again” and thanked supporters for “continuing to unite behind the club”.
(c) Sky News 2020: Saracens owner Nigel Wray ‘sorry for heartache’ over salary cap breach
