Barrister Adam Lewis KC, who successfully prosecuted the case that relegated Saracens in 2019, is now leading the Premier League action against Manchester City.
Manchester City were found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, mirroring the fate of the English and European rugby champions seven years ago.
Following revelations by Daily Mail Sport, Saracens were fined 5.3 million pounds and handed an initial 35-point deduction in November 2019 after undisclosed co-investments with players Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola were uncovered.
The club could not meet the salary cap for the 2019 to 2020 season, resulting in a further 70-point deduction that ensured they finished bottom of the Premiership and dropped into the Championship.
Hostile receptions
Four days after their initial punishment, Saracens played at Gloucester.
"No one really liked Saracens before, so that went to an extreme," former Saracens forward Jackson Wray said. "Everything came out in the news during the November international break and a few days later we got off the bus at Kingsholm."
Gloucester supporters waved fake 50 pound notes and shouted "cheats" at the players.
"I remember it very clearly. People were throwing Monopoly money up in the air so it fell around us," Wray said. "People stuck celery to caps and threw them at us. We got abused on every away game but what can you do? Turn around and say, 'I do not fancy it today' or fight for the club that a lot of us had been at since we were 14 years old?"
Saracens won the match, which Wray described as very satisfying.
In their first game after the international break, Enzo Maresca and his Manchester City team will play at Anfield, a stadium that was vitriolic towards visiting City sides even before the verdict.
Squad meetings
The league investigation into Saracens took place during the summer of 2019, and the squad learned of the findings when they reconvened after the World Cup in Japan.
"When it is fresh and it is new, you are all of a sudden going, 'What is fact and what is not fact?'" Wray said. "Anyone can have an opinion. With City, you see opinions everywhere. A lot of it is based on emotion."
Wray said the Saracens players were at the training ground speaking directly to the chief executive when the news broke.
"They are saying, 'We are sorting it out, you may hear bits'," Wray said. "The Man City players are all on international break, so no one is together. They are hearing all sorts in the news and all sorts on X. They are probably waiting to get back and find out what is going on."
Wray said the Saracens squad wanted to win the league and fight off relegation to save people's opinions of the club.
"All we could do was keep playing," Wray said. "We were not sitting there wiping each other's eyes. It is an attritional, dangerous sport so you cannot be too preoccupied."
Financial assurances
The 70-point deduction put the club's future at risk and left players navigating a year in the second division.
"The picture changed a bit through the season," Wray said. "We had our initial fine and points deduction and then our focus turned to, 'Right, can we get enough points to stay up?' Then another 70 points got deducted from us, so we were not staying up, and then you are playing for different reasons."
Former Saracens chief executive Ed Griffiths returned to the club for 26 days to manage the crisis.
"The big question was whether we appealed or not," Griffiths said. "At the time, we took a decision not to appeal. We accepted the sentence and got all the bad stuff out, meaning we could start the recovery from the Championship."
Griffiths expects Manchester City to take a different approach.
"At the moment, City are deciding whether they accept whatever punishment comes their way or they appeal," Griffiths said. "You suspect they will appeal."
Griffiths said players asked if they would still be paid, and the club was able to calm their nerves by assuring them they would receive what they were owed.
"It was unwanted and difficult but once people knew they were not going to be put on the street, then they were relatively calm," Griffiths said.
Player retention
"When an organisation is in a situation like that, you have to focus on the people," Griffiths said. "Make sure each person is treated as well as possible and kept informed with clear communication."
Griffiths said the club dealt with each player individually. Liam Williams returned to Wales and Will Skelton moved to La Rochelle.
Following the relegation, Saracens players met at a pub or golf club to discuss their futures.
"We said: 'This is not great, what are we going to do?'" Wray said. "People were at different stages of their careers."
Ben Spencer left the club to remain in contention for the England squad, while Ben Earl and Max Malins joined Bristol on loan.
Senior players including Farrell, Itoje and Wray committed to the second division and won immediate promotion back to the Premiership.
Wray said established England players stayed after receiving assurances from head coach Eddie Jones regarding their selection for the British and Irish Lions.
Manchester City might find it harder to retain players such as Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki in their primes, despite a return to the top flight being a formality.
When Juventus were forcibly relegated in 2006 following the Calciopoli scandal, the Italian club lost Fabio Cannavaro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira to rivals.
Club recovery
Wray said he was never going to walk away from Saracens.
"How that compares to Manchester City, I do not really know," Wray said. "It is a different team, a different sport, a different culture and it is still not done. There are too many variables at the moment to have a direct comparison."
Wray praised former Saracens chairman Nigel Wray, who retired after the scandal and is no relation to Jackson Wray.
"Nigel Wray was the most caring man in the room, always there for me, never forgot the kids' birthday," Wray said. "All these things matter, so we were not going to turn around and throw in the towel."
Saracens have since rebuilt under Brendan Venter, reaching the Premiership final.
"It is hard for any club to sustain success over 20 years but now the club is back with fresh energy," Wray said. "We ended up coming back and reaching the final. The journey back from there was one of the proudest things I have been part of."
