Northampton Saints chief executive Mark Darbon says club will continue to live within its means
- Published
Mark Darbon became Northampton chief executive in the summer of 2017
Northampton Saints chief executive Mark Darbon says the club will continue to live within its means to try to avoid financial problems in the future.
The Premiership lost Worcester, Wasps and London Irish last season as the finances of the professional game came under intense scrutiny.
Saints recently announced a £1.1m loss before tax in the year to June 2023.
"It's undeniable there has been some financial stress in the game," Darbon told BBC Radio Northampton.
"You don't need to look far beyond the three clubs that sadly we lost over the last 18 months or so to show that.
"Lots of the other clubs are reliant on a single high net worth individual pumping money into the club year in, year out.
"At Saints, we've tried to make sure we operate within the envelope of our own resources, we have a slightly different model and I think that brings lots of good discipline, so we try to spend within our means, but with all the turbulence in the game that's been really challenging."
Despite the overall loss, Saints made a club record turnover of almost £22m in 2022-23.
"What that says is since the pandemic, we've been able to rebound really strongly," said Darbon.
"We've had good growth in our revenue; it's important we get our ticket sales model right, that we're selling sponsorship and commercial partnerships, and that we're using the stadium in different ways to bring in revenue - that stuff is going well, we're outperforming our peer set on that front.
"At the same time, costs have been hard to control, there's a lot of cost inflation in the market, individuals are feeling that, businesses are feeling that, we're no different."
It is reported that clubs could be limited to 35 senior players, external if proposals currently under discussion by Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Football Union, under their Professional Game Partnership, are approved.
"This is something we are in the process of learning more about," Darbon said.
"In practical terms for us, we've run, at least for the last four or five seasons, one of the smallest squads across the league anyway, so we don't think it will have a big impact on us.
"What we're very focused on is having the right mix of senior players and this great group of academy players coming through, I think we've got 70% of our squad homegrown at the moment, that's higher than anyone else across the league.
"That balance is really critical for us."
Saints are at home to French club Toulon in the European Champions Cup on Friday (20:00 GMT) before two Premiership fixtures to round off the year - away to Gloucester on 23 December and home to Sale seven days later.