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Fans should find out if Saracens are leaving Watford tomorrow

12:19pm Monday 6th September 2010 in


Watford expect to make an announcement on Saracens' future at Vicarage Road tomorrow.

The Hornets activated the break clause in Sarries' 'tenancy' agreement in May, which meant the rugby club would leave Watford at the end of this season unless a new lease could be agreed.

Saracens' chief executive Edward Griffiths previously stated a decision was to be made at the club's board meeting last Friday and Watford expected to find out that day.

Up until today there had been no comment from either club over the possibility of Saracens leaving Vicarage Road.

However, this morning Watford chief executive Julian Winter said: “With regards to the September 3 deadline agreed by both parties, Watford FC and Saracens have briefly spoken - and we expect to be able to make a fuller announcement tomorrow.”

Saracens pay Watford £489,000 a year to play at Vicarage Road but the football club have stated on a number of occasions that the sum is not enough.

The Hornets were also keen to include the development of the South-West corner of the stadium and the East Stand into discussions.

Watford made Saracens two separate proposals and staying at Vicarage Road was one of five options the Sarries board were considering, according to Griffiths.

Comments(12)

tringthing says...
4:17pm Mon 6 Sep 10

"have briefly spoken"..that suggests a parting of the ways me thinks...
we wait.we see.

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WFC4ever says...
7:57pm Mon 6 Sep 10

Well if Sarries did leave we won't be seeing a new pitch/stand for a long time and ofcourse have to sell somebody to make up for the 500k lost.

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Andrew1963 says...
11:00pm Mon 6 Sep 10

Sarries to stay until 2014, when they move into Upton Park, after West Ham move to the olympic stadium or on present form Brisbane Road!

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IRF says...
11:02pm Mon 6 Sep 10

Would be interesting to know how much of the £489,000 actually drops to the bottom line?

What extra costs would be associated with Sarries using the stadium ? More time from ground staff, cleaning, set up / change over matters, sundries etc. My view is a fair bit of the £489,000 is probably profit.

However in the whole scheme of things the loss of this income is unlikely to be life threatening - although if a new deal could be agreed it would be good news. Anyone fancy Sarries getting into bed with West Ham and the new Olympic Stadium?

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pfwhornets says...
11:28pm Mon 6 Sep 10

I hope they exercise one of the other "4 options" to be honest. If they were paying £489K 10 yrs ago they should be paying about £638K now if you take inflation at about 3% accumulative. After you take out the costs of match day officials, stewards, flood lights, insurance etc I can't imagine there would be much left, if any.

I honestly think our chances of getting an investor in are better without them; less hassle.

Perhaps we should get the dog track back!!

Seriously though, they will stay and some deal will be done. I hope it is in the best interest of WFC though.

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inayellowshirt says...
9:21am Tue 7 Sep 10

I am sure the club have previously commented that the club basically makes nothing from the rent paid by Saracens.

The deal needs complete restructuring, and personally I'd rather have the ground back for just the football

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fairwater says...
11:20am Tue 7 Sep 10

Saracens will stay at the Vic. Multi-lillionaire Nigel Wray is a very shrewd operator, and knows a good deal when he sees one. He still fancies the Vic as the best current option in my opinion.

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BigDaveH says...
12:27pm Tue 7 Sep 10

I think Watford need Saracens more than Saracens need Watford. My understanding is that WFC do make money out of the arrangement. Saracens get no income from the food concessions etc., and I would guess that this would be part of the re-negotiations. The problem for Saracens is that, despite some innovative marketing, and an excellent season last year, there have been no improvements in attendances, and a move to a London ground may be attractive. I would hope howrever that they do stay and that any negotiations also include the re-laying of the pitch, should both sides agree to extend the contract, as well as some ground improvements, just to make it look like a decent ground again.

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Prof Plum says...
1:50pm Tue 7 Sep 10

Let's hope Nigel Wray buys the stadium, develops it along the lines of other first class rugby stadiums - which put the fans first - and rents it back to Watford FC.

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corbindallas says...
3:23pm Tue 7 Sep 10

Why still no news thought it was due out midday??

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WFC4ever says...
3:31pm Tue 7 Sep 10

corbindallas wrote:
Why still no news thought it was due out midday??
Probably going through the "final details"

I agree if Sarries did stay then they should help us with the pitch and ground although ofcourse its not their fault Mr Simpson and Ashton decided to waste money elsewhere...

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Derek Payne says...
5:01pm Wed 8 Sep 10

Would be happy for them to stay for free if they build us a new stand and lay us a new pitch

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