- Orange has pumped millions of pounds into Sale since buying the club in 2016
- He will also spend £250,000 on team trip to Twickenham and then Marbella
- The club have invested heavily to drive up attendances at the AJ Bell Stadium
Sale Sharks owner Simon Orange jokes, ‘It’s probably the least painful loss I’ll make in rugby!’ as he reveals the bill for a team trip down to Twickenham and then on to Marbella after the Premiership final.
‘We might have to shove three in a room to keep the cost down,’ he adds, having just spent half an hour discussing the dire state of rugby finances.
Orange bought Sale Sharks in 2016, pumping millions of pounds into the club he loves, but moments like this make it all worthwhile.
‘For Sale Sharks, this is a moment to celebrate,’ says Orange. ‘Everyone will come down to Twickenham and then we’ll head to Marbella on Sunday and hope that nobody gets arrested or jumps off a ferry!
‘Win or lose, we’re making a big go of this. It feels like a reward for the last six years but, more importantly, I hope it’s a platform to become one of the top teams. We want to fly the flag, along with Newcastle, for the North. Our stadium was rocking for the semi-final and we need more of that to become somewhat sustainable. Because, along with everyone else, we’re not sustainable at the moment.’
Sustainability is the magic word; a land that feels a million miles away for those trying to balance the books. Sale have invested heavily to drive up attendances at the AJ Bell Stadium but Orange acknowledges there is still a huge amount to do. ‘Rugby finances are in a terrible state because we’re losing so much money between us. A report done for the owners forecasts we will have to put £300million into the game over the next five years to keep it alive.
‘One sensible argument would be to cut our cloth and make the game financially sustainable but that would mean halving the salary cap and a number of clubs don’t want to do that.
‘It’s not going to happen. The salary cap is going back up as agreed when it was reduced to help get us through Covid. At the moment we spend nearly £7million, give or take, and if we reduced the cap we’ll possibly lose quality because players may go abroad, so we’re voluntarily losing money to try to keep the top-quality league we’re enjoying. We’re going to have to take a few more years of financial pain and hopefully we get the commercial income to catch up.
‘We can improve the income by doing a better TV deal next year, negotiating a better deal with the RFU, improving sponsorship both centrally and at the club level and also building our crowds. We want to get regular 10,000 crowds at Sale but it’s not one magic bullet, it’s loads of them.’
Flying high at the top of the tree, Orange has a platform to voice his opinions on the future of the English game. He sees the benefits for reducing the Premiership to a 10-team league.
‘I and others have conceded a 10-team league might be the optimum number and that’s regardless of the situation other clubs find themselves in. If there were 10 teams in the league then there would be no crossover with the international game and that’s a big factor. If people are paying for season tickets, they want to see the stars every week. They don’t want to watch weakened teams and rightly so.
‘With 10 teams, there’s more central income, no sub-optimal teams and less workload on the players. That all contributes to a better product, which makes us a more attractive TV offering. There’s also a case to have fewer international games but the RFU also need to increase their income so I suspect they will not want to reduce international matches. It’s not an easy conundrum.
‘The reality is that we, as a northern club, will probably never be fully sustainable but [as co-owners, his wife] Michelle, Ged Mason and I’ll always be financially supportive. Michelle and I have written the club into our will, which goes to show how much we’re invested.’
Orange has spent £250,000 on next weekend and he is hoping for a victory against Saracens. In a season that will be remembered for the loss of two clubs, the uprising of a northern club would be something to celebrate.
‘This season has been a microcosm of life. It was a real shame to lose Worcester and Wasps and you’ve got to feel for their staff, players and supporters. It’s awful but it’s a commercial world.
‘The situation with the administrators proved that, because they had a credible rugby plan from Steve Diamond with financial backing but they seem to chosen a party not interested in saving rugby at Sixways and who might be more interested in the potential gains that can be made from the land. It’s an outrage and I’m gutted for the club and the supporters but it seems that’s the way of the world.
‘All we can do at Sale is manage our own situation. We’ve got a settled squad, supported by a great backroom and a commercial team doing brilliantly. We’ve been in the lower part of the league for years but we’ve grown massively on and off the pitch. We’re investing in the women’s game and we want to build the sport in the North. There’s a massive opportunity for us and I hope reaching the final is just a sign of things to come.’