The club behind the push for the Aviva Premiership to abolish the salary cap are in a record amount of debt. Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has dismissed the salary cap rule as "a farce" as the Watford based club reaches debts of £40 million.
This comes after the club's wage bill increased by £1 million just last year, and has seen Premier Rugby launch an investigation into alleged salary cap breaches.
The reported figure from Mail On Sunday claims that Saracens' debt has reached £40 million. If that's true, it's by far the largest debt any club has accrued in rugby's history.
There is a small concern for Saracens' financial wellbeing as their wage bill continues to increase, with a reported 50% rise over the last three years. Most of their debt is funded by an unsecured loan from chairman Nigel Wray and other assorted South African benefactors.
Despite this, Wray continues to lead the crusade for the Premiership clubs to abolish the salary cap to compete with the rising financial power of the French Top 14 clubs in Europe.
The club have recently moved into their new home in Allianz Park, and will be hoping to attract bigger crowds in an attempt to reduce that debt. Nevertheless, if they continue to lose over £5million each year as they have done for the last four years, the potential penalties for salary cap infringements will be the last thing on their minds.
The Daily Mail reports that their overall wage bill stands at just over £9 million, which also includes non-playing staff. Salary cap rules dictate that no club should be spending more than £5 million on player wages, with one marque allowed to be paid an "unlimited" amount, which is in practise no more than half a million pounds a year. These figures effectively allow a huge £3.5 million for the clubs coaching staff and 54 administrative employees.
