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Saracens have started work on a new £23m stand at their Allianz Park stadium but owner Nigel Wray denies the Heineken Cup and Gallagher Premiership double winners need to rebuild their reputation following the on-going claims of salary cap breaches this season.
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As Wray reflected on another remarkable season for a club he has funded with his own millions since 1995, he is adamant the latest Premiership examination of the club’s financial practices are only motivated by “jealousy”.
Far from being a pariah club, Wray insists he is in talks with a number of investors who have expressed an interest in ploughing money into the most successful English rugby franchise whose on-field triumphs have yet to register an off-field profit.
The latest Premiership probe instigated in May follows the revelation that Wray has business arrangements with key players including England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, and Mako and Billy Vunipola, although the Saracens owner insists they are a vital step towards helping players with life after rugby. Premiership Rugby have confirmed that a conclusion of the latest probe is not imminent.
Wray told RugbyPass; “To say that we have been completely unaffected by this would be wrong but jealously is a basic human emotion. Jealously is part of it and if you are losing all the time people leave you alone, but if you are winning things all the time then it’s different. I have been in investment all my life and I do know the difference between investment and salary. With an investment you can lose all of your money with a salary you can’t.
“I haven’t heard back from Premiership Rugby and we have given them lots of information and for me it is about the time when a player retires, his income collapses and he has to look after his family. You have to start that now
“It is still me at the moment (funding Saracens) and there are one or two people in the wings interested in helping Saracens but there isn’t anything imminent. Clearly, I am not getting younger and the sustainability of Saracens is the important thing and it has to be the right person who will buy into the ethos of what we are trying to do. There is the Saracens school, the Foundation and the playing side and there has to be a meeting of minds.
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“The preliminary works are starting now on the new stand and I guess the whole project will take a year to 18 months to complete. For next season the plan is to put up a temporary structure for changing rooms etc… on the car park to the side because it has to be away from the construction. The capacity will drop to 8,500 and there will be new seats in front of where the construction is taking place.”
Despite the restrictions the work will impose to create a new 3,000 seat West Stand, Wray insists there are no plans to play major matches at other venues with the only deal in place taking one fixture a season to Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium for the next five years.
Mark McCall, the director of rugby, and the players want to keep as many matches in Europe and the Premiership at Allianz Park and Wray is happy to support this request while the stand is being built. “The guys like home advantage: “added Wray.
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
30 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
30 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
30 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
30 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
30 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
30 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
30 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments