'He's an idiot, but he's our idiot' - Saints fans on Pollock contract stand-off

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Henry Pollock's exurberant on-pitch persona has pulled in a raft of young fans

ByMike HensonBBC Sport rugby union news reporter

Published1 hour ago

Henry Pollock is determined not to blink first in his contractual face-off.

Despite a deal with Northampton being close, amid reports of an agreement of about £400,000 a year,, external the back row stressed on Monday that his renewal was not signed.

He is, he says, still open to offers.

Asked if he was looking forward to the end of the saga, stoked by Pollock's advisor Eddie Hearn, Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson joked that "it would have been good to have it sorted three weeks ago".

The haggling has certainly played out more publicly than most negotiations.

Has it taken some of the sheen off a player who was key to Saints winning the Prem title last season and whose public profile has brought new supporters and attention, not just to his club but to his sport in general?

'The theatre around it will grind people's gears'

Lis Saunders is the chair of the Northampton Saints Supporters Group.

"I have known Henry coming up through the academy and he is absolutely delightful," she told BBC Sport.

"The perception of his arrogance is wrong. He is just a young bouncy man, living his best life.

"Some people are getting a bit fed up with the whole theatre around [the contract stand-off], though.

"I am laissez-faire about it. If he stays it will be brilliant, but you can't keep someone who wants to go.

"The whole theatre around it is what will grind people's gears. You are starting to see that on some of the fan forums – people saying, 'Either sign or don't. Just don't mess around - we don't need this drama.'"

Saunders points out that, while Pollock can pull a crowd, Saints invariably fill Franklin's Gardens anyway. The turnstiles will carry on clicking at the same rate regardless of his presence.

It would be an emotional wrench rather than a financial loss if he moves elsewhere.

"As the players themselves say, he's an idiot, but he's our idiot," said Saunders.

"We've watched him grow up and he's very much ours. It would be really sad if he didn't stay - perhaps understandable, but really sad."

Charles McGillivray is one of the hosts of Beneath the Lift Tower,, external a Northampton Saints podcast run by fans and named after the landmark that looms over Franklin's Gardens.

He says the stand-off has split fans, even if Pollock, who was superb at the end of last season, still has the support of the majority.

"There are probably two ends of the spectrum," he said.

"You've got some fans who are just reading headlines, may not be as engaged as others and don't really understand the mechanics of how rugby clubs in England work, with the salary cap and things like that.

"But most Saints fans are fairly grounded. They understand that Eddie Hearn coming to Henry Pollock's career is going to be brilliant for the sport and together they're going to make lots of noise.

"And they also understand that the money being quoted [Hearn says Pollock is worth £1m a season] isn't really feasible to be earned by someone in England.

"We think he's a grounded - if ambitious - lad and therefore Northampton is the best place for him to be.

"There isn't a club in England at the moment developing talent at the rate of knots or to the level that Northampton is. And maybe only Bath are having the continued success that Northampton are having."

McGillivray's co-host Simon Stacey, who has been following the club for 40 years, points out that Northampton fans have seen first hand the risks that players run for their rewards.

In 2018 Saints centre Rob Horne went in for a hard but routine tackle and incurred nerve damage that cost him the use of his right arm.

"I don't hold any grudges against Henry," said Stacey. "It doesn't annoy me. I get that they do need to get what they can because it's a short career and they have to look after themselves."

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Fin Smith (right) is believed to occupy Northampton's 'marquee' slot for salary cap regulations at the moment

How have Pollock's team-mates reacted?

With a club's spending on salaries capped at £6.4m - with another £1.4m available in various credits and compensations - a bumper pay deal for one player at a Prem club reduces the money available for others.

Last autumn scrum-half Alex Mitchell said he and others had prioritised the togetherness, external and quality of Saints' squad over "mega money" elsewhere when opting to re-sign.

While Northampton did not pay up to the salary cap in the most recent report on Prem club finances, which covers the 2024-25 season, a raft of renewals is likely to take them closer to the limit in the coming years.

However, if Pollock's stance is causing ructions in the squad, they are hiding it well.

Fly-half Fin Smith momentarily joined Hearn in lobbying for Pollock to be granted a £1m annual salary this month, telling reporters that "he's worth it" before joking that Pollock had sent him out to do a bit of PR on his behalf.

Dowson dropped a request into the squad's group chat, asking if the squad could borrow the private jet Hearn had laid on for Pollock to visit him on the French Rivera.

As Pollock gave an interview on Monday, soberly stressing that the forthcoming season could be his last at the club, his straight face briefly broke as Mitchell smirked at him from across the room.

Pollock poses with Barry Hearn and Ian Machado Garry

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Pollock poses with Barry Hearn, father of Eddie, and UFC fighter Ian Machado Garry

Is Pollock under-paid?

Hearn has said he found Pollock's current earnings at Northampton, thought to be about £150,000 a year, to be unbelievable. And not in a good way.

Certainly, Pollock, one of the faces of the sport, is due a significant pay raise.

The league's latest salary cap report is revealing.

His current salary is below that of the 2024-25 league average of £191,000.

Of the players in his current age bracket (20-22) that season, 27% were paid more than he is now.

Pollock has 13 England caps. The average wage of a player with 11-20 caps was £224,000.

Even if he finalises his reported extension, it will be at a lower level than the average 'marquee' player – those whose pay is excluded from the salary cap – took home in 2024-25. That figure was £533,000.

Finn Russell, the Scotland fly-half and only other rugby player who is part of Hearn's Matchroom stable, is one of those marquee players, on a deal worth about £1m a year with Bath.

Pollock has long since outgrown his current deal, signed in December 2024 before his England debut, Champions Cup knockout heroics and British and Irish Lions call-up.

Where could he go?

Newcastle Red Bulls

The obvious destination were Pollock to move within the Prem.

Backed by Austrian energy drink dynasty, Pollock would be a statement signing that fits their youth-orientated brand. The club had plenty of headroom on the pay roll, spending barely half of the salary cap's upper limit in 2024-25 campaign.

However, a revamp of the playing squad since then will have given them less ability to manoeuvre, and Prem Rugby rules on domestic moves prevent Pollock from being the club's designated marquee player for his first two seasons elsewhere.

Pollock would also have to weigh up whether swapping the Prem champions for the league's bottom club, who are without Champions Cup rugby for 2026-27 at least, is desirable.

Top 14

French clubs operate under a significantly higher salary cap of 11m euros (£9.4m), and the Top14 is booming, challenging football for prominence in the country.

Thanks to skirmishes with Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup, Pollock has pantomime villain status in the country.

He was jeered the loudest of any player when England played France in Paris in March. His vigorous celebrations of Tommy Freeman's 76th-minute try, which appeared to have clinched the win for the visitors, will have further endeared him to the locals.

However, a move across the Channel would come at the cost of Pollock's England career and the associated central contract, worth about £150,000.

There is also a considerable cultural shock to overcome. Courtney Lawes, a Northampton legend, has just returned to England, saying some aspects of his two-season spell with Brive were challenging.

Henry Arundell, the bright, young thing of English rugby before Pollock, endured a difficult time at Racing 92 before returning to the Prem a year earlier than anticipated.

Japan

The money-making move of choice for many of the southern hemisphere's finest.

Richie Mo'unga, Pieter Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx are among those who have enjoyed the lighter schedule and yen-heavy pay days in Japan.

While England internationals George Kruis and Alex Goode have made moves there in the past, there has been a shift lately to favour Japanese players over big-money imports.

Both Kruis and Goode were near the end of their careers. A switch to such relative obscurity would do little to build Pollock's brand in rugby's major markets.

'Other sports'

Perhaps the most intriguing comment made by Pollock this week was a desire to explore "other sports" during his career.

He has been a ringside regular since signing with Matchroom, most recently attending Katie Taylor's farewell fight at Dublin's Croke Park, and chatting with UFC fighter Ian Machado Garry at a recent charity fundraising event.

His high-energy style would suit a switch to rugby league, and it has been reported, external that a number of Super League clubs, buoyed by possible investment from the NRL, are monitoring Pollock's situation.

R360

The big-money start-up circuit, originally slated to begin next month, would surely have been keen on Pollock.

However, it has been postponed until 2028 and, with conflict in the Middle East further unsettling investors and logistics, looks increasingly unlikely to transpire.