Saracens’ salary cap scandal has claimed another victim after interim chief executive Ed Griffiths stepped down with immediate effect.
Griffiths departs just 26 days into the 12-month contract that brought him back to Allianz Park for a second spell designed to steer the double winners through the crisis that has engulfed the club.
Saracens will be relegated from the Gallagher Premiership in June for breaching the £7million salary cap for 2019-20, having already been docked 35 points and fined £5.36million for exceeding the limit for the previous three seasons.
Edward Griffiths has resigned as Interim CEO of Saracens with immediate effect.https://t.co/FKcH9NqCoT
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) January 28, 2020
“This was always going to be a very short-term appointment and others are well-placed to drive forward the rebuilding of the club,” Griffiths said.
In a short statement released on Tuesday afternoon, new Saracens chairman Neil Golding thanked Griffiths for his time in a role that began on January 2, with the recruitment process for his successor already under way.
Last week, Griffiths denied working as a cricket agent, following claims he had been reported to the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Griffiths rejected any wrongdoing after reports in a national newspaper alleged that the ECB was investigating a possible conflict of interest over his consultancy role with Middlesex.
“I have worked as a consultant acting for Middlesex for the last three years, helping players there with areas beyond cricket, and that’s involved doing lots of things that would perhaps in other circumstances be thought of as things an agent would do.
“But I have only ever been acting on behalf of and for Middlesex.”
Saracens have now breached salary cap regulations in five of the last seven seasons and their conduct was repeatedly condemned by the report into their ‘financial doping’. The club cannot be stripped of their titles under PRL regulations.
