In the north-west of England, they have a vision. No longer will the start of a Premiership season revolve around yet another routine London double-header or a mundane Twickenham launch. Instead, everyone will flock to Manchester to see the country’s most compelling team, packed with once-in-a-generation players. English rugby’s centre of gravity, they insist, is about to shift dramatically.
It will not happen overnight, or even in 12 months. Sale’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, would settle for a top-six finish in May. Steadily, though, the soul of northern rugby is being revived and replenished. More than a decade has gone since the Sharks won the Premiership but a return to the heady days of Jason Robinson et al is the clear objective.
It is all part of the masterplan fronted by Sale’s new co-owners Simon Orange – a successful business owner whose brother Jason was in Take That – and Ged Mason. The redoubtable former England and Lions prop, Fran Cotton, is back involved as chairman and Diamond’s budget has been significantly upgraded, with the Springboks scrum-half Faf de Klerk, Wallabies dasher James O’Connor and Scotland No8 Josh Strauss all now aboard.
An offer has also been made to buy the AJ Bell Stadium from City of Salford Community Stadium Ltd, which could further transform the club’s income options and the spectator experience. “We’re a sleeping giant,” says Diamond, excited by the blend of academy youth, imported talent and coaching brains beneath him. “Saracens and ourselves produce more kids who play for England and play Premiership rugby than anyone else. That’s the bedrock and now, with Simon and Ged involved, we can fish in a different pool recruitment-wise than we’ve ever fished before.”
Hence the gleam in Diamond’s eyes. He was chuffed the other day to be described as so hard-nosed even his left and right nostrils are at war; no other coach conducts training sessions with a fierce-looking Alsatian at his heels. Since Richard Cockerill’s departure to Edinburgh, he has the market in combustible, shaven-headed former hooker Premiership bosses cornered. “My outlook is brighter than anybody ever thinks but you need to have a bit of a fear factor,” he says.
Beneath the bristling exterior, though, is an occasionally benevolent dictator. Diamond is even offering to pay £5,000 of his own money into the squad’s beer kitty if he ends up triggering a suspended touchline ban for verbally abusing match officials. The mood around Carrington has improved appreciably since last winter. “We had a blip last year because we recruited on the proviso the club wasn’t going to be bought,” adds Diamond, a board member himself. “It was a downward spiral ... we’ve relied on kids and enthusiasm more than going out and strategically buying players.”
There is fresh momentum now, with the squad deliberately trimmed to 33 plus 10 academy players to help keep wage costs in check. Sale reckon there is limited long-term value in them instantly splashing £8m-9m per year, including marquee players and add-ons, on player salaries as other clubs are doing. “Last year we finished 10th and spent £5m,” says Diamond. “I could buy five All Blacks starting players for £3m and the press would be going ‘Wow’. But I’m saying ‘Let’s do it incrementally’ and spend half a million more each year. Success doesn’t happen immediately; if we did it all at once we’d lose a bleeding fortune. I don’t want to lose five million quid a year and win the competition. That won’t do me any favours because I’m a shareholder.”
The ambition, instead, is to stay solvent and close-knit, become a regular top-four side inside three years and maximise the best local talent, not least a pair of 17-year-old playmakers – Cameron Redpath (son of the former Scotland captain Bryan) and Kieran Wilkinson – about whom Diamond waxes lyrical. “We rate them as the two best young players coming through since George Ford and Owen Farrell,” Diamond adds. “This time next year they’ll be on our bench every week. They’re men in kids’ bodies. Our salesmen are our players and now we’ve got some good ones.”
Sale already boast the youngest England forward in 105 years in Tom Curry, 19, whose Test cap in Argentina will trigger a £12,500 package of kit, equipment and tickets from the Sharks to his junior club Crewe & Nantwich. One hundred junior clubs across the north-west enjoy the same incentive scheme; with so few youngsters from Cheshire and Lancashire becoming regular first-teamers at Manchester United and City these days, Sale hope there is plenty more talent on the doorstep.
The Exeter Chiefs model – a well-run club representing an entire provincial region – is an obvious comparison and Diamond insists there is no need to ditch the Sale name to attract a wider audience. “What could we be called? We’ve already got Manchester City and Manchester United.” So how would Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho fare if they were managing the Sharks? “They’d be out of a job, wouldn’t they?” says Diamond instantly. “In a results-based business they can’t wait for potential whereas I’m different. I own a part of the club as well as manage it. Our backers understand the big picture is coming together.”
It would help, he argues, if the RFU offered more financial help to rugby in the north, even if it does not involve relocating Tests from Twickenham. “Unless you can play the Test match at Old Trafford where you can fit in 75,000, don’t bring them, but give us some of the money,” Diamond says. Of more immediate urgency, though, is beating Wasps – “they’ve got five lads out of our academy” – on Saturday and showing everyone that, on the field, northern rugby is bouncing back. Wasps will encounter a big pack of forwards, some strong defence and, judging by a free-scoring pre-season, dangerous opponents on the break.
Yet even if they lose to last year’s finalists, the Orange-tinged future seems brighter. “The only bit we haven’t got right yet is to fill our ground again,” Diamond adds. “That’s why we need to buy the stadium; we need to be in control of our own destiny. When we’ve filled the stadium consecutively I might consider getting my cigar out.”
