SARACENS were rocked by another body blow as they lost their record £2MILLION stadium and shirt sponsorship. German insurance giants Allianz told the disgraced Sarries they are pulling out of club rugby’s biggest-ever deal. Their tie-up was meant to run until 2021 — but Allianz acted in the wake of their salary cap cheating scandal. […]
SARACENS were rocked by another body blow as they lost their record £2MILLION stadium and shirt sponsorship.
German insurance giants Allianz told the disgraced Sarries they are pulling out of club rugby’s biggest-ever deal.
Their tie-up was meant to run until 2021 — but Allianz acted in the wake of their salary cap cheating scandal.
The company confirmed in a statement: “Allianz has taken the difficult decision to end its sponsorship of Saracens Rugby Club and its stadium at the end of this season.”
Yet the crisis-ravaged club were finally handed some good news yesterday as Jamie George committed his future.
Hooker George, 29, will stay despite the club’s shock relegation from the Premiership and record £5.36million fine for flouting wages rules.
As SunSport exclusively revealed last month, England skipper Owen Farrell has already said he is going nowhere.
But George’s England and Lions team-mate Maro Itoje — one of the club’s prized assets — remained coy on his future.
England boss Eddie Jones and his Lions counterpart Warren Gatland have already assured Sarries’ star men that their positions are safe.
This is despite the prospect of them facing a season of Championship rugby playing part-timers and students.
Saracens are planning on resting their big names next season and could schedule exhibition matches against Super Rugby sides.
George said: “I love the club, I’m committed and it might be an opportunity to rest a little bit more.
“I want to stay and be part of the transition going forward.
“They have shown a huge amount of loyalty to me, and remorse in terms of what they have done, and that is appreciated.
“I grew up going to Vicarage Road with my old man and playing for Saracens was everything. We’ll be challenged this term more than we’ve ever been challenged and probably again next season.
“We’ve got to fight to keep the club afloat.”
But a cagey Itoje added: “We’ve had talks with the club about what could potentially happen next year.
“Nothing has been finalised. But Mark McCall said if I stay in the Championship he’ll allow me to take drop-goals!
“That’s a bit of an incentive. It’s still to be confirmed.”
George is one of very few leading players to come out of the saga without having his name dragged through the mud.
Forward Itoje was implicated in leaked documents over the controversial sale of his image rights to the Sarries’ multi-millionaire owner Nigel Wray.
Wray also invested some £250,000 into property with second-row Itoje.
While Wray’s daughter, Lucy, paid Itoje almost £100,000 for hospitality appearances which Premiership chiefs found no evidence had taken place.
But Itoje’s sale of a 30 per cent stake in his image rights to Wray and two others for £1.6m — which was ruled to be more than £871,000 over the estimated value — was one of many smoking guns.
Speaking for the first time since being officially named, Itoje, 25, said: “It felt like an invasion of privacy.
“When I entered into them, they were all — to my knowledge — above board.
“Nothing I entered into was with the intention of . . . there wasn’t even the slightest thought of it being not allowed.
“There wasn’t any intention, or a thought, that this was not above board.
“If you look back you can think, ‘Maybe I could have done this, done that’. I am pretty sure I won’t be doing that kind of thing next time.”
Yet Itoje is opposed to league chiefs publishing a list of players’ wages — like they do in American sports.
He added: “When it comes to finances, I’m a private person. I wouldn’t want anybody or everybody knowing exactly what I’m earning.”
