Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has retracted his decision to “appeal against all the findings”, after the club was struck with a major penalty of £5.3 million and the deduction of 35 points for breaching wage limits.
In a statement published on the club’s homepage they conclude that the process would be costly and time-consuming. Mr. Wray writes that they have decided not to appeal but to take the punishment and “hopefully soon put this behind us.”
They further stated that their decision not to contest the sanctions is for the good of the game, both for the Premiership and Saracens.
Saracens were penalised with the biggest sanction in Premiership history, following an investigation led by Daily Mail’s Sports section, which found them guilty of breaching salary cap regulations.
The investigation shows that Saracens failed to disclose payments to players throughout the previous three seasons. The club was also found to have exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players, over the same period.
After the news became public, Saracens Rugby club stated that they were shocked and disappointed by the heavy-handed sanctions and would launch an appeal against all the disciplinary panel’s findings.
The decision leaves Saracens at the bottom of the premiership, with minus 22 points. Before the penalties were imposed, Saracens were third in the Premiership.
Saracens will not have to return any previous titles or trophies, nor sell any players. They affirm in the public statement that the penalty for the salary cap will have no connection to third party co-investments.
Saracens recognise that their actions were “reckless”, and accept the penalty given. This will not impact on future transfer-window openings. In the Raven-survey published earlier this week; 33 percent expected a harsher penalty imposed on the club, such as a transfer ban.
Saracens assures that they now have done extra adjustments and have already introduced an independent governance, fair to all parties involved.