Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe has been deregistered by the NRL

Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe has been sensationally deregistered by the NRL over alleged breaches of the salary cap but the club will be fighting their position.

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Wests Tigers chair Marina Go spent over three hours in meetings with lawyers on Wednesday as the club contemplates taking the NRL to court over the deregistration of chief executive Justin Pascoe.

The bombshell that has stunned the Tigers front office and football department landed in the shape of NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, who personally delivered Pascoe the breach notice to his Concord office at 8am Wednesday.

The notice relates to an undisclosed agreement made in 2016 to pay Robbie Farah $639,000 as an ambassador of the club when he finishes his career.

The NRL claims the agreement was made before Farah left to play for South Sydney and that it should have been disclosed and included in the salary cap.

Wests Tigers Chair Marina and CEO Justin Pascoe were stunned. (Brett Costello)

Pascoe’s livelihood and immediate future as an administrator of the game aside, the notice could have additional major ramifications with a proposed $750,000 fine and an amount of $639,000 — the value of the ambassador’s agreement — to be added to the club’s salary cap in 2019.

Shell-shocked by the NRL’s preliminary findings, Pascoe was also told he must leave the Tigers premises immediately and that he can have no contact with the club, players or sponsors pending a final determination.

Pascoe and the Tigers have until the end of January to respond to the breach notice and are planning a staunch defence of the claims in a written response.

The club is also assessing every legal option available, should their response prove unsatisfactory.

The Farah deal could derail the club’s hard work at rebuilding. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

The Tigers claim Farah was offered the ambassadorial role as a sign of respect and “deserved as a life member and club legend” following his ugly departure from the club under former coach Jason Taylor, in November 2015.

But NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks claims the deal was not only outside salary cap rules, but that the club intentionally hoodwinked the Intergrity Until during their recent investigation into the matter.

In one email the NRL obtained during the investigation, Farah’s agent Sam Ayoub, reminds the club that, “as conveyed on every occasion we have met”, Farah would not be allowed to move to Souths unless the ambassador deal was finalised first.

Weeks and Greenberg have come down hard. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)

“The rules on those types of arrangements between clubs and players post-career are absolutely clear,’’ Weeks said.

“They have to be approved by the NRL or they go in a cap.

“So at no time until recently did the club disclose to us an existence of that agreement that was signed in September 2016.

“After Robbie left, the club paid him money that he was owed under his contract and they approached us to exclude some of those payments on the basis that Robbie was a destabilising influence on the club.

“Now, what they didn’t disclose when they made that application was that the club had earlier entered into an ambassador agreement to bring him back.

“On our assessment of that, that’s misleading.’’

Go was loath to impact any potential legal path the club may take by speaking in specific detail about the allegations.

However, Go did offer a statement to The Telegraph.

“The arrangement was entered into years after his (Farah) playing contract had been signed and had nothing to do with Robbie’s playing commitments,’’ the short statement read.

“The club derived no competitive advantage from the arrangement.’’

Pressure on the club’s $9.4 million salary cap next year with an additional $639,000 is what will cause fans the greatest cause for alarm.

In total, the Tigers have 14 players off-contract in 2019, including first-grade squad members Benji Marshall, Chris Lawrence, Josh Aloiai, Michael Chee Kam, Corey Thompson, Robbie Rochow and Farah.

Pascoe will get a robust defence from the club. (Brett Costello)

Greenberg refused to deny the threat of a major salary cap impingement could prove detrimental to the club’s retention and acquisition of players in the interim.

“What history tells you is that a salary cap imposition of more than half a million dollars, is a massive imposition on the club and a huge outcome for the way their roster is structured,’’ Greenberg said.

“I don’t have an intimate knowledge of their salary cap, I know they have some space, but it will be a significant issue they’ll have to deal with.

“I think Justin is a good CEO, he’s done a good job at the Wests Tigers, so this was a tough decision and a tough conversation, but we feel like the club and Justin have misled the NRL in the process around this ambassador agreement.

“And we have to provide consistent sanctions on individuals and clubs.’’