How Saracens money man brought Club back from dead
Silvester will watch the club back at Twickenham today after taking control in the wake of salary-cap scandal
Dominic Silvester takes a deep breath. In all his years as a highlysuccessful insurance entrepreneur and a long-time investor in rugby union, the new owner of Saracens has never before given an interview.
He has instead preferred to keep a low profile, avoiding the limelight even after his decision to buy the controlling interest of Saracens from Nigel Wray last year in the uncertain days in the wake of the salary-cap scandal that culminated in the club’s relegation to the Championship in 2020 and hit with a £5.36million fine. Until now.
Silvester wants to set the record straight, revealing the inside story of the £32million takeover that not only brought the club back from the brink, but the road to redemption that has taken Mark Mccall’s team to the Premiership final at Twickenham today in their first season back in the top flight.
The salary-cap breaches have been well-documented – with the report of a disciplinary panel led by the late Lord Myners published in January 2020 revealing the club had exceeded the salary cap by around £2.1million in the previous three seasons, including co-investments with some players from Wray in the form of loans to buy properties, overspending on image rights and fees via an events company.
What has not yet been chronicled are the key moments since the controversy threatened to overwhelm a club who had won five Premiership titles and three European Champions Cup crowns.
“I have been asked so many times about what really happened, and in particular what has changed in the new ownership structure, where I took the leadership role in the consortium that took control of the club after so many years of Nigel’s ownership,” Silvester says.
“We needed to separate the old from the new. The club got some things wrong, and mistakes were made, and it must be remembered that we were found to have been reckless as opposed to deliberately cheating. I hope the club has dispelled the myth that the reason for their success was salary cap related, but rather was due to the character of its outstanding coaches, players, fitness and conditioning team, and every other member of the club who came together to achieve something very special.
“The challenges we faced would have knocked over and finished most clubs, but the ethos of Saracens meant we stood together, regrouped, reorganised and have come out stronger.”
Silvester had first invested £600,000 to buy a 10 per cent stake in 2002, but in the furore that accompanied the salary-cap revelations, his role became more critical. His loyalty to the club first saw him attempt to find a buyer when Wray’s involvement in the salary overspend left the club with no option but to look for a new owner.
On hearing the tribunal’s ruling, Silvester flew from the United States to London for breakfast with a distressed Wray.
“It was not an easy time for Nigel at all, but in the aftermath of challenges he totally appreciated that the club needed change and a new face with regards to both being chairman and owner,” he adds. “I felt a strong sense of responsibility to him to help restructure the own
ership and board so we could never face the same challenges again.”
With the club at risk of falling apart, Silvester first turned to Neil Golding, a senior partner at London law firm Freshfields to underscore the sense of a new beginning for the club’s governance as chairman.
A takeover deal with the principals of US private equity fund MSD Capital reached the final stages and it was only when it fell apart that the idea was first raised of Silvester taking control of the club himself at a lunch with Wray last February. He declined at first, but changed his mind after discussions with those who would join him in investing in the consortium – Golding, former Springbok World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, Marco Masotti, the New York-based owner of the Sharks, the South African franchise, Nick Leslau, a property entrepreneur, and former Saracens director, investor and business colleague Paul O’shea.
Yet the defining meeting that confirmed his decision came at the club’s training base near St Albans with Mccall, the director of rugby and performance director Phil Morrow in April last year.
Silvester had experienced the revolving door of coaches, including Eddie Jones, now England head coach, in the early years of his involvement with Saracens, which were notable only for their lack of success despite significant investment in the playing squad. Stability and continuity were now his watchwords after the sustained success of first Brendan Venter and then Mccall since 2009.
“I looked both Mark and Phil in the eye and said to them: ‘Are you guys going to stay around? Are we in this together?’” he recalls. “Their answer was the biggest influence in me deciding to buy the controlling interest from Nigel. I knew both
could easily get jobs elsewhere, and I said to them that if they see it through, then I was in. I was not prepared to make my decision until I had their answer. They both said: ‘We will see this through.’ That clinched it for me.”
The resolve of that culture was tested within the playing group, who held a crisis meeting at the Wicked Lady pub near Harpenden, with their England players, including captain Owen Farrell.
“Mercenaries would have left when the going got tough,” he says. “Not this amazing group of players, they wanted to stick together and demonstrate the real reason why they were at Saracens. Everyone at the training ground recommitted to rebuilding the club.”
Reducing the cap and accommodating the short-term requirements of others did result in some restructuring, however, with George Kruis, Will Skelton and Ben Spencer leaving the club and Alex Goode, Max Malins, Ben Earl, Nick Isiekwe and Alex Lozowski loaned out to other clubs for the period of the Championship season.
“The Sharks were interested in taking Maro [Itoje] for a short loan period, but the discussions did not ever really amount to anything substantial as the coaches wanted Maro for the critical run in to the season in the Championship,” Silvester adds. Saracens may not have the same strength in depth as they did before the salary cap sanctions, but reaching the final in their first season back in the Premiership underscores that sense that their collective spirit and camaraderie has survived the trauma.
But what of the club’s reputation? The appointment of Lucy Wray, Nigel’s daughter, as chief executive, had led to the perception that the former owner, who is now a passive minority shareholder, still retains an influence. Silvester insists she was only appointed as he felt she was the best candidate for the job.
“The only factor was deciding on what was best for the club,” he says. “Lucy has totally justified our faith in her, and the fact she is Nigel’s daughter is really not relevant. If anything, she, too, has her own point to prove.”
Silvester admits that governance structures had not been robust enough in the previous regime, but insists that they now strictly adhere to the cap regulations.
“The tribunal very clearly stated that they fully accepted that the breaches were not deliberate, but rather they were reckless,” he adds. “Nigel was man enough to put his hand up and accept responsibility. He did not hide anything from anyone who could access Companies House free of charge at any time. There was no attempt to hide or deceive anyone and this was accepted by the tribunal.
“There is no question that the deals which were done should have been discussed first with the salarycap manager and perhaps this could have had a completely different outcome. Why it wasn’t is difficult to explain but was for sure a failing in the governance structure but not an attempt to deliberately cheat.”
A sixth Premiership title is now Saracens’ goal, and Silvester admits the final against Leicester means more to him than the previous finals the club have been involved in.
“Because it would be a reward for the players and coaches and many others at Saracens who have had a point to prove over the last two years,” adds Silvester, who will watch the Twickenham final in the company of his close friend and fellow director Pienaar.
“The players are fearless and will be wanting to prove something, but we don’t have to win to prove anything – the point has been made already by the fact the players stuck together. Win or lose, I could not be prouder of this incredible group.”