After Premiership Rugby’s decision last night to relegated them at the end of the 2019/20 season, Saracens have broken their silence this morning as the club released a statement stating that they ”accept” relegation and ”unreservedly apologise” for the mistakes they have made.
Saracens relegation accepted by club
The statement which was released on the clubs official website reads as follows:
”The board of Saracens wishes to unreservedly apologise for the mistakes made in relation to the salary cap regulations.”
“Our goal is to rebuild confidence and trust. The first step was to appoint a new independent chairman to lead on governance reform ensuring errors of the past are not replicated in the future. Furthermore, following open and frank discussions with PRL, we have accepted the unprecedented measure of automatic relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2019-2020 season.”
“We understand this decision will be difficult for the Saracens family to accept. The Board must embody the values of the club, learn from its mistakes so the Club can come back stronger. It is in the wider interests of the Premiership and English rugby to take this decisive step, to ensure everybody is able once again to focus on the game of rugby, which we all love.
“We hope that we can now start to move forward, begin to restore confidence and over time, rebuild trust with PRL, its stakeholders and the wider rugby community.”
With the clubs future very much in the air, the statement certainly makes for some interesting reading, especially given that it states that they will seek to appoint a new independent chairman to govern the London teams rebuild.
This comes after former chairman Nigel Wray cut all ties with the club on January 2, due to the ongoing investigation against the team for Salary Cap regulations which have ultimately led to the clubs fall from grace.
Something that will also be worth keeping an eye on is what will come next for Saracens top stars. With the club set to play in the Greene King Championship next season, you would have to think that there will be some big decisions to make from the likes of Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Alex Goode and of course, Billy and Mako Vunipola.
With Sarries now accepting relegation, the Salary Cap breach saga may seem to have come to an end, and the club as they said themselves, “will look to rebuild trust with the PRL over time” although it will be easier said than done given the circumstances leading up to what can only be described as a total and utter mess.
If there is one thing is for sure from the events of the past months though then the fallout, and this latest statement from the club, is just the start of what is a very uncertain future for the team from Allianz Park.
“Main photo credit”
