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. Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has dismissed rugby’s salary caps rules as ‘a farce’ 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. Documents show his club’s wage bill soared by another £1million last season alone despite investigation . ‘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 Mail on Sunday can reveal Saracens’ mounting debt has topped £40m — the most in rugby history . 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. ‘The club are in an investment phase and, given the strength of the shareholding base, this is something they can manage.’
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.