Salford Red Devils fire sale imminent with salary cap and quota dispensations considered

[josie andrews]

Maybe that’s why Ian Blease jumped ship part way through last season to go Leeds!

Maybe he foresaw what was coming?

[fozzie58]

What are they? Class B. That's a more serious grading error than cas. They seem to be insolvent.

Not many clubs in SL are.

Agreed let’s be fair all clubs and yes I include Wigan in this a bad turn of events health wise and they’d end up as Salford are at the moment

[fozzie58]

Funny isnt it

Salford had a mega wealthy owner willling to invest his fortune into the club but was driven away as he couldnt do that due to the salary cap put in place to "protect" clubs from going under and level the playing field

Not sure he ever had the money to back his ambitions up though

[fozzie58]

They do it the hard way don’t they Salford constantly great to watch but I suspect the Yorkshire mafia would sooner they go belly up so some club with a ground out of date in the 1920s can come in I. Their place.

Hope they get it sorted soon

So do I, the St Helens mafia are getting giddy about making a raid. Apparently they have spoken with Watkins.

They need more than Watkins , but i suppose he fits their current squad profile of being over 30 and ready for retirement

Agreed they need to be looking at lowering the squad age rather than adding an albeit very good player who’s at the end of his playing days

[Mike]

Get that Cornwall crazy man to merge with them. We don't need a team in cornwall, but we do need one in manchester.

[buttmonkey2]

Even with clubs still to vote on giving quota and cap dispensation, I could see Watkins going back to Leeds. Rumours are that the saints are one of the clubs looking at taking McDonald

[the pieman]

From what i was told at weekend Salford are going to be playing in the championship this season (came from son of an ex player), but that clearly causes problems in both SL and the Championship, given fixtures already released and you would assume 99% of recruitment for teams has been done

my preference is they are managed to play in SL this season, and perhaps sell off a couple of players. Other clubs to provide a loan player to bolster squad numbers and give them a chance of competing. I know this is there to get shot down, but with it being so close to the 1st game, i dont see any other option where fixtures can be fulfilled, and Salford fans have paid for ST based on SL games

[widdenoldboy]

Funny isnt it

Salford had a mega wealthy owner willling to invest his fortune into the club but was driven away as he couldnt do that due to the salary cap put in place to "protect" clubs from going under and level the playing field

unfortunately i dont think the good Dr was cash rich as may have been made out. I know of things that went on during his time, where money as involved. Obviously the most obvious was the player(s) taking him to court, but i know academy players werent paid and one of their games was due to be cancelled (was on sky) as he hadnt paid the doctor to be present for several games, so was held at ransom until he paid his debts or the game couldnt go ahead without medical supervision. The game went ahead delayed on sky v Saints. what i will say about Dr K is that he got people talking about the game (or himself) and he seemed to be influential in the marquee player change to the SC.

onto the current situation i dont know how its gotten to this with Salford. I dont know exactly what they asked for but the clubs voted at the end of last season to give them an advance on the TV money so they could pay the players etc over the off season. I also agree, that setting a precedent of allowing a fire sale, and other clubs to go over the cap to sign Salford's players isnt the way forward.
Surely the RFL / SL should be working with Salford to understand how bad the situation is and trying to ensure that they can fulfil their fixtures for this coming season, not sell off their assets as that isnt the solution, unless it really is that bad and they are going into liquidation

Real shame, Salford had some "full houses" at end of season.

[the pieman]

Funny isnt it

Salford had a mega wealthy owner willling to invest his fortune into the club but was driven away as he couldnt do that due to the salary cap put in place to "protect" clubs from going under and level the playing field

unfortunately i dont think the good Dr was cash rich as may have been made out. I know of things that went on during his time, where money as involved. Obviously the most obvious was the player(s) taking him to court, but i know academy players werent paid and one of their games was due to be cancelled (was on sky) as he hadnt paid the doctor to be present for several games, so was held at ransom until he paid his debts or the game couldnt go ahead without medical supervision. The game went ahead delayed on sky v Saints. what i will say about Dr K is that he got people talking about the game (or himself) and he seemed to be influential in the marquee player change to the SC.

onto the current situation i dont know how its gotten to this with Salford. I dont know exactly what they asked for but the clubs voted at the end of last season to give them an advance on the TV money so they could pay the players etc over the off season. I also agree, that setting a precedent of allowing a fire sale, and other clubs to go over the cap to sign Salford's players isnt the way forward.
Surely the RFL / SL should be working with Salford to understand how bad the situation is and trying to ensure that they can fulfil their fixtures for this coming season, not sell off their assets as that isnt the solution, unless it really is that bad and they are going into liquidation

Real shame, Salford had some "full houses" at end of season.

i agree. I have a bit of a soft spot for them (dont know why, other than some of my friends are Salford fans), but they always seem to be in financial strife in one way or another. They have a massive catchment area, but whether they stayed at the Willows or currently at the AJ Bell, they dont seem to be able to pull that sort of support on a regular basis

Under the last 2 coaches (and some beyond), they have played some good rugby, but more importantly rugby that fans would want to watch, so its baffling why

[josie andrews]

Why Salford Red Devils could be just the start of a Rugby League crisis

In his latest ‘Talking Rugby League’ column, League Express editor MARTYN SADLER suggests that long-term strategic thinking is needed by Super League club owners in their approach to the liquidity crisis at Salford Red Devils.

IS Salford the canary in the coal mine?

The Super League club owners will meet on Tuesday and their reaction to the crisis at Salford Red Devils could tell us a lot about whether Super League has a viable future.

The liquidity crisis at Salford is merely a symptom of what is happening across Super League, whose clubs lost many millions collectively during 2024.

I’m told that Salford’s losses were apparently lower than those of any other club in the competition, with one owner, for example, having had to put £4 million into his club to keep it operating.

The eleven clubs other than Salford are fortunate that they have owners who can do this, but I’m sure that Hull FC would have been in the same position as Salford if new investors hadn’t turned up in the nick of time.

And if any or all of the existing owners were to walk away, then Super League would be in an awful mess.

Salford were last week urged by the RFL to offload their leading players to other clubs, ideally for substantial transfer fees that would help reduce their deficit, while they are also being urged to cut their costs as a whole to the bone, which would clearly make them uncompetitive as a Super League team.

Rugby League’s business model clearly doesn’t work and it needs urgent surgery to transform itself into a model that is sustainable and can secure stability and then growth.

Unfortunately I see no sign of the current leadership of the game being able to achieve that aim.

The danger is that the competition will weaken and the dominoes will begin to topple one by one.

The club owners getting together is an encouraging sign, but only if they make the right decisions.

And the key principle they have to follow is that the competition itself has greater value and importance than any of the individual clubs.

If we see the other clubs swooping to sign Salford players, thereby fatally weakening the Red Devils and reducing the club to being a passenger in the 2025 season, then I’m afraid there is little hope for the game.

With a new broadcasting agreement due to begin in 2027, the demise of Salford will significantly reduce the value of those rights, as we have seen with Premiership rugby union after it lost three clubs and was reduced to a ten-team competition.

So if that isn’t to happen and the value of the competition is to be protected, then the clubs have to take control of the situation by becoming far more creative in shoring up its weakest links.

What that means is that they have to combine their resources to protect Salford’s position in Super League so that the Red Devils can retain their current squad and be competitive.

I understand that the Red Devils are in discussions with an Australian consortium that is seeking to buy the club.

I’m not sure if and when that deal will be completed, but the other Super League clubs need to effectively provide Salford with a bridging loan from their own resources to tide them over until that deal is completed and, if it isn’t completed, until the end of the season.

The other clubs have some very wealthy owners who must realise that the value of their own clubs depends on the value of Super League as a whole and they therefore need Salford to not just survive but thrive.

To raise, say, £1 million between them as private individuals on a relatively short-term basis shouldn’t be too difficult.

They are all successful businessmen and they should realise that this would be the best way forward.

If they don’t, and they put their own clubs’ short-term interests ahead of the long-term interests of the Super League competition, then I’m afraid that Super League doesn’t have much of a future.

https://www.totalrl.com/talking-rugby-l ... ue-crisis/