Northampton Saints players to take 12-month pay cuts

Northampton Saints have announced that players and staff have agreed to a take pay cuts for a 12-month period.

Most of the players and staff already had a 25 per cent pay cut from 1st April after the 2019/20 season was disrupted by the pandemic coronavirus creating financial crisis and now the new pay cut will be in effect from 1st July.

The news follows after the club confirmed 19 players who have signed new deals earlier in the week as the club also unveiled the squad for the upcoming season.

Northampton chief executive Mark Darbon said the club was 'incredibly grateful' to the players and staff as they remained committed to them despite the tough situation prevailing.

"We are incredibly grateful to all our employees for recognising the gravity of our situation and coming together to support the club," said Darbon.

"We have a wonderful, close-knit environment at Saints, and I am incredibly proud of the excellent work our staff and players continue to produce during one of the most challenging times we have faced in our history.

"This was not a decision that was taken lightly, but a necessary temporary change given the need to continue to reduce our cost base and preserve the financial sustainability of the club.

"While we are very confident that we can weather this storm and emerge stronger as a result, we must unfortunately continue to make tough choices in order to protect the club for the foreseeable future.

"The decision involved open collaboration with our senior player group and the Rugby Players Association representatives, who have been helpful throughout.

"Despite these extraordinary times, everyone at the club is working harder than ever to ensure we can return to playing the game we love as soon as possible."

Director of rugby Chris Boyd’s coaching group remains unchanged for the 2020/21 season, with Sam Vesty (Attack Coach), Ian Vass (Defence Coach), Phil Dowson (Forwards Coach) and Matt Ferguson (Assistant/Scrum Coach) at the helm.

Mark Hopley (Head of Academy) leads a Senior Academy group of 15 players, supported by Jake Sharp (Academy Skills Coach), Alex O’Dowd (Academy Programme Manager), Will Parkin (Junior Academy Development Manager) and James Craig (DPP Manager).

Northampton squad:

Props: Nick Auterac, Owen Franks, Karl Garside, Paul Hill, Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, Emmanuel Iyogun*, Ehren Painter, Ed Prowse*, Alex Waller, Francois van Wyk

Hookers: Callum Burns*, James Fish, Mikey Haywood, Jack Hughes*, Samson Ma’asi, Reece Marshall, Sam Matavesi

Locks and Loose Forwards: Shaun Adendorff, Lewis Bean, Alex Coles, Teimana Harrison, Nick Isiekwe (on loan), Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Alex Moon, Ollie Newman*, Api Ratuniyarawa, David Ribbans, Kayde Sylvester*, JJ Tonks*, Tui Uru*, Tom Wood

Scrum-Halves: Tom James, Alex Mitchell, Henry Taylor, Connor Tupai

Fly-Halves: Dan Biggar, James Grayson, Tommy Mathews*

Centres: Reuben Bird-Tulloch*, Fraser Dingwall, Piers Francis, Ethan Grayson*, Rory Hutchinson, Tom Litchfield*, Matt Proctor

Wingers: Tom Collins, Josh Gillespie*, Dani Long-Martinez*, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Ryan Olowofela, Ollie Sleightholme

Full-backs: Tommy Freeman*, George Furbank, Harry Mallinder, Ahsee Tuala

* Senior Academy 2020/21