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.