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Author Topic: Myners Review of salary cap published  (Read 584 times)

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Nico Wilson

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Myners Review of salary cap published
« on: Thursday 14-May-2020, 11:43* »
Full list of recommendations:

Appendix: The full list of Lord Myners’ recommendations

1. Separation of Investigation, Decision to Prosecute and Enforcement

1.1 Enshrine a commitment by the clubs to respect the independence of the regulations.

1.2 The current discretion for clubs to choose to remove a director of a club pursuant to Regulation 14.7 should be removed.

1.3 Appoint an independent Cap Governance Monitor, with reserved powers in relation to the enforcement of the regulations.

2. Transparency

2.1 Announce the fact that a charge has been brought as soon as is reasonably practical and within seven days, with a brief summary of the substance and details, and proposed dates for a hearing.

2.2 Publish disciplinary decisions in full, with the redaction of confidential information or personal data.

2.3 Include details of all breaches and sanctions in a comprehensive SCM annual report, which is made public.

2.4 Publish guidance from the SCM regularly and make this publicly available.

2.5 Publish general information to share details about the operation of the cap and how it is achieving its objectives.

2.6 Publish any changes to the regulations, along with a rationale for how it is consistent with the five regulatory objectives.

3. Drafting of the Regulations and Definition of Salary

3.1 The regulations should remain as a set of detailed rules, backed up by principles.

3.2 All permitted payments to players should be automatically included within the salary cap, except for a few clearly communicated exceptions.

3.3 All exceptional items to be pre-approved by the SCM, otherwise they will be automatically treated as salary.

3.4 Prohibit payments which are subjective, extend beyond a player’s playing career or come from connected parties (including sponsorship by connected parties). Any prohibited payment should result in a sanction.

3.5 Broaden the current definition of connected party.

3.6 The SCM must approve all sponsorship arrangements in advance.

3.7 Tighten provisions around player loans to ensure they are bona fide.

3.8 Review provisions for exempt (marquee) players.

3.9 Remove the provision to deem a salary. Instead allow evidence of inaccurate salary declaration to be sufficient grounds for the SCM to launch an investigation.

3.10 Strengthen emphasis on clubs seeking clarification from the SCM in relation to any uncertainty in the interpretation of the regulations. Failure by a club to do so should be treated by the disciplinary panel as an aggravating factor leading to an increased sanction.

4. Club Accountability

4.1 The entry level for points sanctions should be increased.

4.2 The disciplinary panel should be entitled to take into account a wider range of factors and be given more guidance in relation to how those factors might influence their decision and their relative weighting.

4.3 Increase sanctions for failure to co-operate to a level equivalent to the sanctions available for breach of the salary cap.

4.4 Make additional sporting sanctions available, including relegation, suspension, stripping of titles and return of prize money.

4.5 Provide the disciplinary panel with the power to install an independent monitor for consistent and serious breaches.

4.6 Increase the sanctions available to the SCM for breach of lower level regulatory breaches, including the ability to deduct 2 points, with a right of appeal for clubs before an independent disciplinary panel.

5. Player Accountability

5.1 Tie players into the regulations so that they have accountability with respect to the salary cap.

5.2 The following player obligations should be adopted:

i) Player declaration

ii) Reporting arrangements for players

iii) Onus on player to clarify arrangements

iv) Co-operation.

5.3 Provide sanctions for players who are in breach of their obligations under the Regulations. These sanctions should include fines and sporting sanctions.

6. Accountability of Others

6.1 Introduce a fit and proper test for club owners to be available to the Disciplinary Panel in extreme circumstances.

6.2 Define a category of “club officials” to include directors and shareholders with more than a 10% holding and each club official should register with Premiership Rugby.

6.3 Require club officials to sign a declaration confirming that they have read the Regulations and agree to abide by them.

6.4 Require a board representative to sign a declaration of anticipated and actual compliance with the Regulations.

6.5 Provide that any club official who knew, or should have known, about the breach of the salary cap and who has signed a false declaration or certification or has unreasonably failed to co-operate with salary cap regulations is subject to sanctions including a ban from Premiership Rugby for up to two years (first offence) or up to lifetime (any subsequent offence).

6.6 Require clubs to nominate a salary cap officer who has duties to the SCM.

6.7 Provide obligations for agents in the regulations that mirror those of players in relation to disclosure and obligation to co-operate with the SCM.

6.8 Add a provision to the RFU’s agent declaration that includes an agreement by each agent to comply with the regulations.

6.9 Provide sanctions for breach of the regulations by an agent, including suspension of licence, forfeiture of any commission and/or fines.

7. Powers and Resource of the SCM and the auditors

7.1 Extend system to allow central access to each club’s salary cap spreadsheet at all times.

7.2 Require clubs to provide copies of documents such as new contracts to the SCM within 14 days.

7.3 Clarify the power of the SCM to attend clubs without notice and require them to provide him with finance reports and access to management accounts.

7.4 Allow the SCM to make requests to see players’ tax returns on a random basis.

7.5 Clarify that, as a part of their annual review, the auditors are able to obtain downloads of raw accounting data from each club’s system.

7.6 Enhance the powers available to the auditors in their annual audit to include mandatory interviews, sampling of tax returns and more extensive provision of information and documents by the clubs.

7.7 Introduce sanctions for clubs that do not comply with reasonable requests from auditors within a reasonable time frame.

7.8 The SCM should work with the Rugby Players Association and RFU to provide a programme of education for players and agents so that they understand their obligations under the regulations.

7.9 Change the title of the “SCM” to salary cap director”.

7.10 Appoint a deputy SCM to assist the SCD.

7.11 Appoint a full-time data analyst.

7.12 Make investigatory audits compulsory if the SCM has reasonable grounds to initiate.

7.13 Expand the scope of investigatory audits to include broader powers of search.

7.14 Provide sanctions for any club or individual who is found to have deleted evidence post the notification on an investigatory audit.

7.15 Introduce random mini investigatory audits for two clubs every year




Here is the link to the report:

https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/4c20e3b1-ed1c-4922-bf7f-e9ab34d2581e.pdf

Pressie

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 14-May-2020, 13:10* »
I wonder if agents fees are included in the cap or are they only paid by the player (unlike in football)?

Boonie

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 14-May-2020, 13:19* »
The BBC take on it:

Premiership clubs who breach the salary cap in the future should face a punishment that "fits the crime", including possible stripping of titles and suspensions, according to a damning review of the rules.

Other recommendations, in what would be a radical overhaul of the salary cap regime, include "stronger investigatory powers" and making Premiership Rugby, club executives, players and agents more accountable.

The review, undertaken by former government minister Lord Myners on behalf on Premiership Rugby, came after reigning champions Saracens breached the salary cap in each of the past three seasons.

The London club were docked 35 points and fined £5.3m for the breaches and then automatically relegated after failing to prove the club would comply this season.

Yet there was no power for Premiership Rugby to remove the titles the club had won when they were operating outside of the salary cap.

In a 55-page review, published today, Lord Myners wrote: "It is important that my recommendations should be viewed as a package of measures which, if taken together, will go a long way to restoring the integrity of the regulations.

"They should not be viewed as a menu of options from which to pick and choose."

In addition to the proposed strengthening of sanctions, he said he has "sympathy" with clubs who said they wanted to end the current system of having two marquee players, whose salaries do not fall within the cap.

"There are some existing areas of the regulations that are obviously not widely supported. Quite a few clubs expressed a desire to end the marquee player system on the grounds that it is inflationary, over complex and unnecessary. I have a great deal of sympathy with this position."

He did not propose seeking an "alternative mechanism" to the salary cap, having found that it will "continue to achieve its objectives" if applied robustly.

Lord Myners was not tasked with commenting on the level of the cap.

A series of additional measures were also considered as part of the review, including disciplinary hearings being heard in public, the publication of player salaries and further restrictions on salaries and image rights payments.

However, Lord Myners said he had been convinced by clubs that "these more draconian measures are not necessary".

He said he would have "no hesitation" in recommending them "if future violations continue to the detriment of the economics and reputation of PRL and the game more broadly".

'Judge and jury'
Myners says Premiership clubs must not in the future "act as judge and jury for fellow competitors", as was the case both in 2015 and in 2019.

From 2015 Myners cites "a last-minute settlement of the salary cap breach against Saracens", as well as a second incident involving another club in the same year.

He also references the "rushed changes to the regulations" which saw Saracens issued with a further 70-point deduction and relegated from the Premiership in 2019.

Myners has also called for the appointment of an Independent Cap Governance Monitor, and has demanded greater powers and support for the Salary Cap Manager.

However, Premiership Rugby has not committed to implementing Lord Myners' recommendations and responded by saying there will now be a consultation with clubs and stakeholders.

Darren Childs, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, said: "Premiership Rugby established an independent review of the salary cap because we want to ensure that it provides a world-leading framework for the future.

"We are immensely grateful to Lord Myners for his thorough and insightful work during an extensive review process.

"We welcome the comprehensive set of recommendations put forward by Lord Myners following the review and we are pleased to publish his report so that everyone has an opportunity to consider his conclusions.

"In the next stage of this process, we will consult carefully with our clubs and other stakeholders as we finalise the new salary cap regulations for the long-term benefit of our sport."

Fearless Fred

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 21-May-2020, 11:26* »
The Grauniad has a comment piece from Paul Rees that mentiones half way through that We (along with Saints and Wasps) are for Myners' outcomes, including the potential of removing Marquee player status.

Quote from: The Breakdown
“It is clear to me, and to many others within clubs, that the marquee players exemption completely cuts across the objectives of equality and competition and creates unhelpful inflationary pressure on wages,” Myners wrote. “The time is ripe for a review of their continued usefulness.”

A number of clubs, including Northampton, Harlequins and Wasps, agree with him as they try to run their clubs at a time when income has reduced to a trickle and no date has been set on the season’s resumption. With matches likely to be played behind closed doors for some time and fears that a second wave of the virus will disrupt next season, they appreciate that controlling costs will be a priority for at least the next couple of years.

JammyGit

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 21-May-2020, 12:12* »
Mark Evans was pretty cutting about Bristol wanting to keep the marquee players and banging on about increasing the cap

"So Bristol Bears follow a 25 year Premier Rugby tradition whereby the dominant financial team of each particular era go public & support a higher salary cap in the name of “ambition”when they are one of a  few clubs who can finance it.Preceded by Leicester,Sale, Saracens & Bath."

deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #5 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 07:09* »
Lansdown is beginning to look like Wray.

Fearless Fred

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #6 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 08:54* »
Every few years there's an owner who wants to basically outspend everyone to build an unbeatable team. Before Bristol you've had Sarries, Bath, Sale, etc.

A222Quin

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #7 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 10:02* »
And in the Southern Hemisphere - players are leaving SA and Aus in their droves either for Japan or to sugar daddied or debt heavy clubs in France and England. The game is all over the place money wise. Not surprised Lansdown wants to spend his cash, he's got plenty of it! 

MadMax

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #8 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 12:16* »
Lansdown is beginning to look like a legal version of  Wray.

Corrected that for you!
Optimistic Optimistic x 1 View List

Monte

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #9 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 14:39* »
Every few years there's an owner who wants to basically outspend everyone to build an unbeatable team. Before Bristol you've had Sarries, Bath, Sale, etc.
Yes but Steve Lansdown is in a different financial league to Craig, Kennedy, Wray etc he has far more money. Although retired from Hargreaves Lansdown he still has shares as far as I am aware. So will just be a case of how far he wants to push it.

JammyGit

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Re: Myners Review of salary cap published
« Reply #10 on: Friday 22-May-2020, 15:45* »
I don't think it matters how much more money he has. The point is a handful of people have more money than the rest. £300m or £3Bn, it doesn't matter - big money player wages are still a drop in the ocean to these guys.

 

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