The biggest mistake made by Nigel Wray? Loving rugby!

Let’s start with disclosure. Premiership Rugby is keen on that. I have known Nigel Wray for most of the professional rugby era.

- David Norrie

He bought into Saracens when I was rugby correspondent of the News of the World. We became friends, then good friends. Nigel and I invested in a sports business. I put together a coffee book of his remarkable sporting memorabilia, called the Priory Collection. And I helped write his book Skin in the Game which came out in late 2017; if there’s a reprint, the title might change to Skinned Alive!

Basically he’s a mate – and for the past three months, this mate has been hounded from pillar to post over the Saracens salary cap saga.

Nigel is a genuinely nice bloke, who didn’t deserved the kicking he received on November 5th – or the boot going in on an almost daily basis ever since. Why have those attacks been so vicious and personal?

He’s not perfect by a long way; he’s the first to admit that. And I feel he’s made mistake after mistake in this sorry saga. Most of those mistakes have centred on him being too loyal, too generous and far too nice!

There’s hardly a cricket or rugby beneficiary who hasn’t benefited from that generosity over the past 30 years – and anyone in trouble will find no more loyal friend. It’s all done quietly. He would always walk away rather than do anyone a bad turn. That’s his nature.

When Premiership Rugby announced a £5.3m fine (and the docking of 35 points) three days after England’s defeat in the RWC final, Saracens had no option, but to appeal.

How could a club game that’s been struggling to make any sort of money over two decade enter the Guinness Book of Records with the biggest fine in sports history?

Football obviously took exception to rugby’s deliberation; in mid-February Manchester City were hit by a two-year Champions League ban and a £25m fine from UEFA!