Alan Quinlan has sympathised with some of the Saracens players as many have been caught up in a scandal that they were not directly involved in.
The former Munster player was on Friday’s OTB AM after it was reported that Saracens would be automatically relegated if they breach the salary cap again this season.
While some of the more senior players were found to have business deals with former club owner Nigel Wray, many didn't and have been caught up in an 'administrative error.'
“What’s really unfair on everyone involved, and in some ways on Saracens, is that the findings weren’t published… There has to be clarity.
“It’s hard on the players… because they’re kind of stuck in the middle of all this. It’s administrative errors that Saracens have said happened,” Quinlan said.
“Not Europe, but definitely the Premiership [titles]. Europe is a little different because you’re playing the French sides with a bigger budget as well,” Quinlan said.
A number of English clubs have been vocal about their frustration towards Saracens, particularly Exeter Chiefs who have lost to Sarries in three of the last four Premiership Finals.
The north London club are reportedly trying to offload players to other clubs in an attempt to come under the cap, but there is still plenty of anger from other Premiership club owners.
“It’s really interesting from that meeting on Tuesday there’s still a lot of anger and a lot of frustration from the other Premiership chairmen and other Premiership clubs.
“It looks like they’re going to have to offload players to be in line this year with the salary cap.
“It’s a bit unprecedented because usually the accounts are audited at the end of the year but they obviously made the decision to monitor Saracens as they go through the season.
“Tuesday was effectively a disciplinary hearing. They were basically saying, ‘Look, you still haven’t got your house in order fully. What’s going to happen?’
“Some people will say that they’ve done nothing wrong and these business deals with the Vunipola brothers, Owen Farrell, [Maro] Itoje and Richard Wigglesworth were not part of the salary cap.
“The hearing and the panel have decided that it was part of the salary cap so they’ve kind of buried their head in the sand a little bit,” Quinlan commented.
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