The thing about the Saracens that further surprises me is that they're able to have the strongest and deepest squad, whilst being based in NW London? Really?
Normally, wages in London (and the surrounding areas) are considerably higher than in places like Northampton, because the cost of living is so high. Accommodation in London is ridiculously expensive compared to every other city involved in Premiership rugby. You burn through your salary a lot faster in London. Speaking purely from a financial perspective, if you want to match the quality of life you'd have in Gloucester/Northampton/Leicester whilst in London, you'd have to be paid considerably more.
So you'd think that either Saracens pay their players more than other clubs and struggle to match others' depth, or that they pay the same amount as other clubs and struggle to entice players.
To compare, Harlequins, also based on the outskirts of London, have the smallest squad of anyone in the top half of the table. Either they are not paying up to the salary cap (but after their success and that Nev is on £300+k, I can't see why they wouldn't be), or cost of living just makes it difficult to get more players under the cap.
Having the deepest, strongest squad in the UK whilst based in NW London? Throw in that they have the highest number of internationals, in terms of
a) current + past
b) just current and
c) 10+ cap internationals?
Hmm...
Give me a moment, I'm going to debunk a few of these points.
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Wages and London. Yes Saracens' home stadium is in Barnet, London but the club and their training facilities are based in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Furthermore many players live in the M1 corridor that links Herts & Essex with the East Midlands. I'm not aware of
any major senior player who lives within zone 6 of London. Surprisingly the commuter belt around London (i.e. 30-40 miles away) is very affordable. I live in Kent and the cost of living is excellent compared to living in Bromley barely five miles away. Thus the theory that Saracens
must be paying their players extra somehow due to the higher living costs is mostly false.
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Squad size. Yes, Saracens have one of the bigger squads of the Premiership. No, it isn't Toulon-
lite. Look, I could go through all the academy players we've churned out that have been in the squad at one time or another, the fact that about a quarter of the squad are a combination of young academy graduates and players promoted from the Championship and lower and near enough another quarter are overseas youngsters from Scotland, New Zealand and *sigh* yes South Africa. It frankly doesn't make sense that you'd suddenly give these guys 50-100% pay bumps simply because they're moving to the UK. They're on reasonable salaries. The point is that the years of extravagant spending ended with the opening of Allianz Park. The party is
over and now Saracens needs to turn a profit. Again, this isn't Toulon and thats never going to happen salary cap or no. With the large number of young talent in their senior squad, they're able to accomodate enough big names and finance new big names through the retirement and sale of other players to make room within the cap. I could also point to the fact that the changed, stable culture at Saracens was a big factor in why players choose Saracens over bigger pay packets in France. The fact that the club is family friendly for players, that it runs a successful work experience program to give players skills to survive if (god forbid) injury cuts their career short and the trips it takes the squad on. Its this and more which makes the club such an attractive proposition for players and adds value to what usually is a modest pay package.
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Sensitivity to allegations. If people keep mentioning Sarries every time the salary cap comes up it can get pretty tiring. While it is nice that other clubs are being mentioned now but I think it struck a nerve with Eddie Griffiths that the minute both the Cueto and the beefed up inspection regime articles came up in the media you had about a bajillion fans from *ahem* other clubs windmilling in toasting the demise of Saracens. Griffiths came out because he's making it clear that they're clean and are happy to be inspected.
Look, have Saracens broken the cap previously? I'm sure they have. Are they in breach right now? Some say its plausible that they are but both myself and others say otherwise but to be honest we don't know.
Until detractors come up with solid evidence instead of throwing out rumours here there and everywhere however, I'm quite comfortable with how Saracens have constructed their squad and accept their explanation at face value.
I don't have a view on other clubs like Saints or Tigers for example.