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CEO defends club’s wage cap

Simon Cohen, the chief executive of the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the Leicester Tigers has defended the compliance of the salary cap imposed by the Premiership.

The defense from Cohen comes in the wake of yet another attack on the club by Steve Diamond, the Director of Rugby of fellow Aviva Premiership club the Sale Sharks.

Diamond claimed in a heated press conference following his side’s 30-23 defeat at the hands of the champions as well as accusations of cheating in the scrum half from the Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill, Diamond responded by stating that the champions spend between £ 6 and £ 7 million on the team, a value far greater than the £ 4.23 million salary cap imposed on all the teams by the Premiership.

And Diamond has recently substantiated those claims by adding that he knows what the Tigers players are earning at the club. But Cohen, the Leicester Tigers CEO did not bear any grudge when he hit back at those claims, stating that he understood those claims coming from Diamond. He added that the club does spend more than any other club in the Premiership but does so within the strictly monitored salary cap placed by the league management.

He stated that the club spends all its allowances in and around the standard salary cap of £ 4.26 million up to 5.1 million adding that if the Sharks spend £ 4.2 million on the team, then it is obvious that the Leicester Tigers spend a lot more money on the team.

Cohen also mentioned that the clubs in the Premiership have a salary cap manager and there is an audit report at the end of each season, so whatever Diamond is claiming that the club does is out of a lack of knowledge.

Slated signs new deal with Leicester Tigers

Ed Slater has put pen to paper on a new deal with the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club and the reigning champions the Leicester Tigers ending months of speculation over his future.

And Slater, who is one of the most valuable assets at the club as well as one of the first names in lock that is picked by Director of Rugby at the club Richard Cockerill, the does so with immense praise from the club boss ringing in his ears.

The 25 year old lock has already made 77 appearances for the first team in the three years he has been at the Welford Road club and during his time at the club, the player has gone from being virtually an unknown quantity to someone who has been described by Cockerill as the new Louis Deacon in the making.

Speaking about the player, Cockerill stated that Ed has been fantastic for the team and with his attitude; he is just the perfect fit for the Leicester Tigers. With Slater signing a new deal for the club, however, Cockerill will have one less thing to worry about with news emerging that another lock George Parling has injured his shoulder and will need at least three months off following surgery.

And with the likes of Tom Croft, Ant Allen as well as Mat Tait all on the sidelines, Cockerill will be glad to be able to call on the services of Slater who is slowly but steadily returning to full fitness and will be ready by the end of the month.

The Leicester Tigers boss stated that there was no difficulty in agreeing the new contract with the player because the player wanted to stay and the club wanted him to stay and it all went accordingly after all that.