A Message from the Saracens Board

Dominic Silvester addresses the Club’s direction, recent progress and the Board’s confidence in Ed Coetzee and his leadership team.

Dear Saracens Partners and Supporters,

Some of you may have read the article by Alex Lowe in The Times last week, which described Saracens as being gripped by an “identity crisis” amid “executive-level chaos”.

I want to take this opportunity to address some of the issues raised and, more importantly, to reassure you of the Board’s confidence in the direction of the Club and the leadership team responsible for delivering its future.

When Ed Coetzee was appointed CEO in July, I was clear in acknowledging that “we have struggled to get some of our previous appointments right, but I am confident that, in Eduard, we have a top class executive”.

Now I invite you to review Ed’s performance in the little more than 3 months since his appointment and it will be clear to you that he has achieved an extraordinary amount in a remarkably short period of time, including the following:

• ATHLOS: Ed negotiated the agreement that brought ATHLOS to StoneX Stadium in September 2026, delivering a sold-out international women’s athletics event featuring seven competitions. A landmark occasion for women’s sport, the event reached 7.3 million viewers across broadcast and streaming platforms, generated 31.2 million social video views and 48.4 million social media impressions, and was broadcast in 150 countries. It demonstrated StoneX Stadium’s ability to attract major international sporting events, engage new audiences and elevate the profile of women’s sport on a global stage.

• Gaelic Football: Ed negotiated the contract for the Gaelic Football fixture to be held on 28 November that sold out last week in less than an hour, underlining the demand for major sporting events at StoneX Stadium.

• The Showdown: Ed negotiated a new agreement with Tottenham Hotspur whose stadium we will use for our fixture against Harlequins on the 20th of March 2027, continuing our ambition to deliver one of the standout events in the rugby calendar.

• Hospitality: Ed has overseen the review of our hospitality offering, leading to an agreement with Elior to further our ambition to elevate the experience we provide to our corporate partners and guests. This partnership will provide us with capital investment into our food and beverage infrastructure as well as enhancing our stadium hospitality and food offering.

• Executive Team: Ed has strengthened our executive team, particularly across Finance and Operations, with the appointments of Jason Thomas as CFO and Rob Cook as COO. Together, Ed, Jason and Rob bring significant experience, complementary expertise and a clear commitment to building a financially sustainable business while maintaining Saracens’ high-performance sporting ambitions.

• Commercial partnerships: We continue to build on important relationships, including our new front-of-shirt partnership with PensionBee that was announced on the 10th of August 2026, and the renewal of our longstanding partnership with StoneX that we announced just last week. 

The above 6 achievements I have called out are just part of what has been achieved by Ed and his team in recent months and I am sure you will agree it is an extraordinary feat to have accomplished so much amid alleged “chaos”. It is a shame that Mr Lowe’s agenda prevented him from writing a more balanced and informed piece. The achievements indeed are reflective of a club that is actively pursuing new opportunities, strengthening its commercial foundations and investing in the quality of its operations and stakeholder relationships.

I would also like to recognise the significant contribution of our Chairman, Neil Golding, who has given generously of his time to the Premiership Rugby Board over the past six years. His contribution to the wider game has been constructive and valuable, and I am confident that his colleagues across Premiership Rugby would readily acknowledge the commitment he has shown.

Our relationships with our sponsors and commercial partners are central to our ambition and we are enormously grateful to all of them for their support.

The Board has full confidence in Ed and his team. We believe they have the experience, capability and determination to raise standards across every area of the Club, strengthen our financial sustainability and ensure that Saracens continues to be an organisation of which our players, staff, partners and supporters can be proud.

We are ambitious about our future, realistic about the work required to achieve our goals and united in our commitment to taking Saracens forward.

Thank you for your continued support and for the important role you play in the Saracens community.

Dominic Silvester