Saracens face fresh probe over salary cap
Premiership Rugby hires ex-government minister to advise on overhaul of pay rules
Disgraced Saracens will be singled out for unprecedented new checks on salary spending, Premiership Rugby vowed last night, after hiring a former government minister to lead a potential overhaul of pay cap rules.
Lord Myners of Truro, a City specialist with a track record for calling out poor financial regulation, is tasked with conducting an independent review as part of the league’s bid to repair its battered reputation following the Saracens scandal.
The back-to-back champions last month accepted a 35-point deduction in the Premiership this season, plus a £5.36million fine, after an investigation into business arrangements between chairman Nigel Wray and leading players, including Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers.
Regardless of likely regulatory reforms from Lord Myners’ review, the league announced yesterday it had already launched steps to ensure that Saracens will face more scrutiny than ever before – this season, at least.
“Alongside the review, Premiership Rugby is in active dialogue with Saracens Rugby Club over additional measures to confirm its compliance for the 2019-20 season,” a statement from the league said.
Those checks, The Daily Telegraph understands, could include monthly updates on expenditure and full access on request for Premiership Rugby’s salary cap manager. Other clubs are currently only asked to make full submissions at the start and end of each campaign.
The independent review is likely to strengthen Premiership Rugby’s wider powers significantly in time for the next campaign. According to the domestic league, all aspects of salary cap regulations will be tested.
Saracens, the reigning English and European champions, declined to appeal after being found guilty of breaching the Premiership salary cap during the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
The ensuing process to clean up the sport aims to “result in a set of recommendations to be delivered in the second quarter of 2020” that could be implemented ahead of next season, the league said.
Darren Childs, Premiership Rugby’s chief executive, said: “The success of Premiership Rugby is based on a group of fiercely competitive clubs who agree to play by
the same set of rules. The salary cap has been fundamental to promoting competition and, while we continue to apply the regulations robustly, this review is designed to ensure we have a world-leading framework in place for the future.”
Lord Myners, a former chairman of Marks & Spencer, is a crossbencher in the House of Lords and one of the country’s most prominent experts in regulation, having been City minister in 2008 during the financial crisis.
He has been a director of the Financial Reporting Council, chairman of the Low Pay Commission and has served on the Bank of England’s court of directors.
He was called in after a previous independent panel, led by barrister Lord Dyson, found that Saracens had failed to disclose payments to players in the three seasons in question, and had exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players.
After five games of the league season, Saracens are on minus 18 points, 22 adrift of second-bottom Leicester. The punishment came into immediate effect after Wray declined the option of appealing, saying he was taking “full responsibility” for wooing his players with joint investments.
Despite the eventual admission, Premiership Rugby has been under mounting pressure to tighten up its rules after other club officials – including Exeter chairman Tony
Rowe – expressed concern that Saracens had escaped lightly. England head coach Eddie Jones, who was Saracens’ director of rugby in 2008-09, added “there may be some dislocation between Saracens players and the rest of the clubs”.
Wray had already pledged to introduce new “robust independent governance measures” to ensure Saracens fall within future spending limits.
There are 16 categories of expenditure in which the club can make savings to now fall within the salary cap rules. A source has confirmed Wray did not need to liquidate his previous investments with players, but would not be taking on any new schemes.