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'The most sellable club': The Rugby Pod on the Saracens takeover
Ex-Saracens Premiership and European Cup winner Jim Hamilton has described the club’s £32million weekend takeover by a consortium that includes World Cup-winning skipper Francois Pienaar as a positive development for rugby in England. The London club remain hugely unpopular following their repeated breaches of the salary cap which led to their automatic relegation from the top flight.
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But they are now back in the Premiership having won promotion last June from the Championship and on the morning of their second fixture in the 2021/22 campaign at Leicester, it emerged that a new consortium had taken a controlling interest in the club from Nigel Wray, its long-time figurehead who has retained a minority shareholding.
Former Scotland lock Hamilton spent three years at the club before retiring from playing in 2017 and he told the latest edition of The Rugby Pod, the show he co-hosts with Andy Goode, that this takeover at Saracens wasn’t at all controversial and was a good bit of business by the new investors who spotted a gap in the market due to the potential for growth that exists at the Londoners.
“It’s not controversial, in my opinion,” said Hamilton. “I’ve seen a few things. The reason why I say that line and sound coy is the game at the weekend, Saracens versus Leicester. At the end, the camera pans up and Nigel Wray is there. All the talk is around Nigel Wray now just being a fan of Saracens but that camera made it as if nothing had changed, you get what I mean?
“But yeah, Saracens now sold, £32million. The interesting thing for me is the value of the club and the fact there are people out there still interested in investing in rugby. Saracens are a really interesting club when you look at them from the outside. They don’t have a huge fanbase. They are a very successful club as we know. They have got tarred history as we know with the Saracens scandal but for me, if there was any club that was sellable and had room for growth commercially it’s Saracens.
The consortium that has taken a controlling stake includes Francois Pienaar, the famed 1995 Springboks World Cup-winning captain ?#Saracens #PremRugby #LEIvSAR https://t.co/FyIDY1vCgS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2021
“A North London club, they have got their own stadium which has got a huge opportunity for growth. Haven’t got their own training ground yet. You have got some of the best players in the league and I genuinely think when you look at the media narrative and the interest in Saracens, there is a pantomime villain part in it but everyone can agree that European rugby looks significantly better with a Saracens team in it.”
There had been financial concerns over how Wray and co might bounce back following the club’s automatic relegation, but the future of Saracens now seems secure following the takeover by a consortium comprising Dominic Silvester, CEO of Enstar Group, a global insurance group; Neil Golding, the club’s chairman and a partner at Freshfields; Paul O’Shea, a director at Enstar; Pienaar, a World Cup-winning captain and former Saracens player; Nick Leslau, chairman and CEO of Prestbury Investment Holdings; and Marco V Masotti, a partner at Paul Weiss and an owner of South Africa’s Sharks rugby team.
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Pod show co-host Goode, who was at Saracens on loan in 2003/04, reckoned: “There is a lot of Saracens DNA within the new consortium that has taken it over. First and foremost around Nigel Wray, people think he sold the club and that is it and he is just a fan but he is not because he has still got in his words a significant minority in terms of the shareholding. Lucy Wray [his daughter] is still going to be CEO, so he has got a significant minority albeit a passive one, they were the words he used. He has put his heart and soul into the club so you can only tip the slipper to him.
“For me, it is great to see them back. The Premiership is a better league with them in it. People want to watch Saracens play for all the success they have had. Same with Leicester when they had all the success they had. Other teams wanted to watch Leicester play because they wanted to see them beaten. No one wants to see one team win everything all the time because it becomes boring.”
Fair to say Joe isn't a big fan… ?https://t.co/HkU2oIfh4M
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 4, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Hats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
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