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#Post#: 150265--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: never sleep
Date: February 28, 2026, 4:18 am
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--- Quote from: Scooter link ---
>
>
>
> You've been lied to.
>
--- End Quote ---
It is such a shame that you weren't part of the team defending
Sarries.
You could have bored the investigators into submission.
#Post#: 150269--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: DOK
Date: February 28, 2026, 7:30 am
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The man from Sarries regurgitates the Telegraph article, then
says nothing useful.
HTML https://saracens.com/statement-from-charlie-beall/
#Post#: 150270--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: Brown Bottle
Date: February 28, 2026, 7:34 am
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--- Quote from: DOK link ---
>
> The man from Sarries regurgitates the Telegraph article, then
says nothing useful.
HTML https://saracens.com/statement-from-charlie-beall/
>
--- End Quote ---
That really is a dreadful statement.
#Post#: 150275--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: Scooter
Date: February 28, 2026, 10:07 am
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--- Quote from: Brown Bottle link ---
>
> That really is a dreadful statement.
>
--- End Quote ---
Discovering that that whole process was duplicitous,
hypocritical and deceitful is not an easy pill to swallow,
although Quins fans will doubtless find it easier than most.
#Post#: 150279--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: Brown Bottle
Date: February 28, 2026, 11:27 am
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--- Quote from: Scooter link ---
>
>
> Discovering that that whole process was duplicitous,
hypocritical and deceitful is not an easy pill to swallow,
although Quins fans will doubtless find it easier than most.
>
--- End Quote ---
Steady on [emoji846]!
For some unknown reason a newspaper has suddenly decided to
publish something that was known at the time but with no
evidence that it was actually an issue. They're not saying
Sarries didn't cheat their way to three titles. Which titles,
incidentally, under current rules would have been stripped but
unfortunately weren't because when the old rules were formulated
no-one thought that would be necessary.
#Post#: 150281--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: dinsdale
Date: February 28, 2026, 11:49 am
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The fact that Toga's grief over Saracens cheating hasn't moved
beyond the "denial" stage after 6 years would be funny if it
wasn't very very sad.
#Post#: 150287--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: championes
Date: February 28, 2026, 2:57 pm
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Supporting the most systematically corrupt cheats in modern
sporting history takes a lot of commitment, maybe it’s to be
admired.
#Post#: 150290--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: Archquin
Date: February 28, 2026, 3:28 pm
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--- Quote from: deadlyfrom5yardsout link ---
>
> If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks......
>
--- End Quote ---
was Lisa Nandy hooking for Sarries 🤔
#Post#: 150298--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: March 1, 2026, 3:00 am
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Punishing Saracens was wrong – we all exploited loopholes, says
former Leicester chief
Simon Cohen praises Telegraph Sport’s revelation and voices
concerns over the valuation of Maro Itoje’s image rights company
Gavin Mairs
Chief Rugby Union Correspondent
Gavin Mairs
Gavin Mairs has reported from every World Cup and Five/Six
Nations Championship since 1999, and every British and Irish
Lions tour since 2001. See more
Published 28 February 2026 7:00am GMT
Related Topics
Saracens Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Maro Itoje, Gallagher
Premiership
151
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Saracens' Ben Earl scores a try against Leicester in 2019-20, a
season in which the latter could have been relegated were in not
for the former's points deductions
Saracens’ Ben Earl scores a try against Leicester in 2019-20, a
season in which the latter could have been relegated were it not
for the former’s points deductions Credit: Mike Egerton/PA
Of all the people you might expect to come out in support of
Saracens following Telegraph Sport’s revelation of an alleged
undisclosed conflict of interest at the heart of their salary
cap hearing, Simon Cohen would not be an obvious candidate.
Cohen was chief executive of Leicester Tigers from 2012 to 2020
– the period when Saracens began to dominate English and
European rugby – and his team were directly affected by the
controversy and could have been relegated were it not for
Saracens’ point deductions.
Saracens were found guilty of breaching the salary cap for three
seasons from 2016 to 2019 and were hit with sanctions
unprecedented in British sport – ultimately relegating them from
the Premiership at the end of the 2019-20 season – including a
fine of £5.36m.
Advertisement
Cohen, who was one of the country’s most respected sports
lawyers before he joined Leicester, also sat on Premiership
Rugby’s salary cap subcommittee for nine years. It is fair to
assume he would not easily be described as a Saracens ally.
And yet when he read our report on Wednesday, he decided to
speak out. “It was spot on,” Cohen said.
Telegraph Sport’s investigation showed that Saffery Champness,
the accountancy firm hired by Premiership Rugby (PRL) to advise
on Saracens’ case, were also concurrently the auditor for Sale
Sharks and Saracens and their legal team say they were not made
aware of the potential conflict of interest.
But what caused Cohen the most angst was the section on the
valuation of Maro Itoje’s image rights company that resulted in
a £2.4m fine for Saracens and ultimately forced owner Nigel Wray
to sell a majority stake in the club.
Three Saracens directors, including Wray, had paid £1.6m for a
30 per cent share in Itoje’s image rights, based on a valuation
given to them by PwC. However, Saffery told Andrew Rogers, the
PRL salary cap manager, that PwC’s valuation was double what it
should have been.
Rogers’ use of Saffery’s “true market value” meant that Saracens
were deemed to have exceeded the salary cap by £800,000, which
represented the vast majority (88 per cent) of the overspend for
the 2018-19 season.
Advertisement
Telegraph Sport revealed, however, that based on a conservative
projected value using current figures at Companies House, the 30
per cent share of Itoje’s image rights company, Oghene Limited,
is now worth approximately £4.86m – six times the Saffery
valuation.
Graham Kitchener and Adam Thompstone of Leicester Tigers wear a
cap to mark their 100th starting appearance, presented by Chief
Executive Simon Cohen in 2017
Simon Cohen was Leicester chief executive from 2012 to 2020
Credit: Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images
“My main reason for thinking it wasn’t right was that I think
Nigel Wray is one of the greatest people to have been involved
in the game,” Cohen told Telegraph Sport. “He’s given so much to
the game and people within it, and he’s a thoroughly decent
human being. He didn’t deserve to be hounded out of the game the
way that he was.
“There was a decision made by the panel who were highly
competent and entirely entitled to conclude the judgment that
they did. The bit that struck me as being a bit strange was the
decision around Itoje. I’m not sure that Saracens helped
themselves, because they didn’t particularly challenge the
valuation that the PRL had obtained from Saffery at the hearing,
and perhaps they could and should have done more in that
respect.
“The way the salary cap was administrated is that it was always
being refined as people like me found ambiguities in the wording
and Andrew Rogers then closed down that loophole.
“It seemed to me that the Itoje element of the decision was so
marginal and decided in such an arbitrary fashion that perhaps
that should have been dealt with in exactly the same way.
“Andrew could have let that one go and put a formula in place
within the regulations that meant that wasn’t open, and it was
an entirely objective rather than subjective call as to
valuations.
“Instead, we have a situation now, where with the gift of
hindsight that we now have, it is clear that Nigel Wray’s
acquisition of shares in Itoje’s image rights company was an
extremely good deal for Nigel. And therefore, in hindsight it
clearly wasn’t a breach of the salary cap. We as a game should
have got that right in the first instance. That is why I feel
uneasy about it.”
Saracens' owner Nigel Wray
Saracens owner Nigel Wray was ultimately forced to sell a
majority stake in the club Credit: Paul Childs/Reuters
Cohen challenged Saffery’s explanation as to why the 30 per cent
stake should have been lower than the PwC valuation.
“I don’t think that two of the factors that Saffery Champness’s
representative included in the judgment call were necessarily
correct,” he added. “He said that as it was a minority stake, it
should have attracted a discount. That might be the case in a
normal corporate structure where control means everything as it
means you can determine the course of the business.
“But in image rights, where the money comes in based on other
people – the agent exploiting the rights of the person – there
can be a distribution based on the revenue and therefore I don’t
think there should have been a discount on the valuation.
“The second point was that Nigel Wray had not factored in the
risk of a career-ending injury or a lack of form. Again, it was
easy to diminish the risk in this instance because A) you knew
that Maro was going to be a very good player, so the lack of
form was a marginal argument.
“And B) every player has the risk of a career-ending injury, but
I think that Maro had already achieved so much that he could
have exploited his image rights even if he was injured as it was
clear he could have a significant career in the media, so again
it didn’t seem to me that it was entirely correct that there
should be a discount for those factors.
“But because it wasn’t challenged by Saracens, it left the panel
able to conclude that Andrew Rogers had acted in a reasonable
way. It just seems that one valuation was accepted rather than
another and when Nigel Wray’s reputation hangs on the line
because of it, that is not an ideal way for the game to
determine these things. I felt very uncomfortable about how we
as a game dealt with it because of the consequences.
“I have done a lot of intellectual property work as a sports
lawyer in Manchester and it seemed to me entirely reasonable the
valuation that Nigel had attributed to Maro’s company and Nigel
was proved right with the gift of hindsight that we now have.
“It was entirely reasonable for the panel to come to that
judgment at the time, but there is something not quite right
there if Nigel’s valuation has proved to be correct some years
later.”
The handling of Saracens’ punishment remains under scrutiny amid
a growing backlash following Telegraph Sport’s revelation.
Premiership Rugby was accused of conducting a “ludicrous”
persecution of the club by a leading former player and were also
criticised by ex-Saracen Jim Hamilton on Thursday prior to
Cohen’s comments on Friday.
#Post#: 150299--------------------------------------------------
Re: Saracens salary cap punishment under scrutiny over new
evidence
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: March 1, 2026, 3:04 am
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You'd almost feel sorry for poor Nige.....
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