Salford Red Devils placed under special measures due to financial concerns

[josie andrews]

The Reds have openly discussed their financial struggles throughout the year.

Salford Red Devils have been placed in special measures due to concerns relating to their financial sustainability, Rugby League Live understands. The decision is understood to have been made due to the Rugby Football League having reasonable cause for concern relating to the club.

Salford, who have made no secret of their delicate financial situation in recent months, have gone through a tough period in which they have sold three of their star players and shared concerns relating to their future as a result of ongoing issues relating to their stadium lease.

A club can be placed in special measures for a number of reasons. They include the request for loan or distribution advancements, a delay in supplying other clubs with shared gate match account and delays in settlement. The full list of reasons can be seen in the RFL operational rules by clicking here.

Super League set for major six again and play the ball rule changesAs a result of being placed in special measures, a club would need to receive permission from the RFL to enter into any new contracts with players and must provide further transparency regarding their financial position. Furthermore, the RFL has the power to create a Sustainability Cap for the club.

As per the Operational Rules, a Sustainability Cap "is the amount that it can budget to spend on items that would count towards the Salary Cap Qualifying Costs of its players to ensure that its Agreed Operating Budget shows a profit or breakeven position." Put simply, there will be a restriction on the amount of money Salford are able to spend on their playing budget until concerns relating to their finances ease.

When approached for comment, an RFL spokesperson said: “The RFL has procedures in place for any clubs who may encounter financial problems from time to time, but these always remain confidential.”

Earlier this year, Salford launched a community share scheme that raised £364,270. However, they have since sold Tyler Dupree, Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers while the club wrote to co-owners confirming they were reviewing their playing budget as a result of less income from the new television deal and central funding reductions.

More recently, the club released a statement declaring they could be "effectively liquidated" if a new deal for the stadium was not finalised by December 1st. At the same time, they outlined how their unfavourable tenancy agreement was also hurting the club financially.


Salford's IMG grade will not be directly impacted by being placed in special measures, although ongoing concerns relating to their finance do threaten to impact their grade next year. From an on-field perspective, the Reds currently have one of the smallest squads in Super League and developments do cast doubt over their ability to make any further additions to their squad.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-28163015

[Wiganer Ted]

Doesn't sound good. Hopefully they can have matters settled before too long.

[fozzieskem]

Such a shame for Salford can see them going under at this rate

[medlocke]

Such a shame for Salford can see them going under at this rate

Surely Salford should have huge amounts of money thrown at them like the RFL did with Bradford

[fozzieskem]

Such a shame for Salford can see them going under at this rate

Surely Salford should have huge amounts of money thrown at them like the RFL did with Bradford

Some chance of that happening to be fair the board of the RFL should never have helped Bradford at all ever, disgraceful they did and that in continues today with the lease of ground to Bradford.

Plus it's never happen as Salford isn't a city..oh wait..


Plus it's never happen as Salford have a decrepit ground..oh wait..

It'd never happen as Salford sit on the right side of the Great divide....

[medlocke]

Such a shame for Salford can see them going under at this rate

Surely Salford should have huge amounts of money thrown at them like the RFL did with Bradford

Some chance of that happening to be fair the board of the RFL should never have helped Bradford at all ever, disgraceful they did and that in continues today with the lease of ground to Bradford.

Plus it's never happen as Salford isn't a city..oh wait..


Plus it's never happen as Salford have a decrepit ground..oh wait..

It'd never happen as Salford sit on the right side of the Great divide....

Not wrong there like

[josie andrews]

Surely Salford should have huge amounts of money thrown at them like the RFL did with Bradford

Some chance of that happening to be fair the board of the RFL should never have helped Bradford at all ever, disgraceful they did and that in continues today with the lease of ground to Bradford.

Plus it's never happen as Salford isn't a city..oh wait..


Plus it's never happen as Salford have a decrepit ground..oh wait..

It'd never happen as Salford sit on the right side of the Great divide....

Not wrong there like

Plus doesn’t the Big Fat Controller still have something to do with Bradford????

[Wiganer Ted]

If Bradford want to be taken seriously they need a modern stadium.
As to replacing Salford then they've a long way to go.

Bradford's finances will not change until they find a new ground of their own. They have a far bigger fan base than Salford but again the Reds need to sort out their rent.

If Salford go belly up then surely Wakefield or Toulouse would replace them!

[fozzieskem]

I do wonder what scrutiny,if indeed any IMG put the clubs under when handing out the school prizes the other week it's not good for uncle slackbucket erstwhile owner of the local mushy pea farm to take over the local club and say all right while I'm charge..

For me Bradford are the poster child of badly managed clubs and as such all clubs,not just should present properly audited accounts but I'm not sure that's happened if podcasts are to be believed (so you do have to be careful if slapping clubs about if accounts are indeed audited just that on more than one occasion I've heard different guests say they're not so hey ho).

[josie andrews]

Salford Red Devils release statement surrounding stadium saga

Salford Red Devils have released a statement providing an update on the status of their stadium, with the tenancy set to have expired today.

It had been revealed previously that the club were in dangerous territory given that property developers Peel wanted to sell their shares in the stadium.

With Peel and the city council each owning 50% of the shares of the stadium it had created issues with members of the council unwilling to sell.

As such there was a key conflict of interest between the two sets of owners, with the Red Devils stuck in limbo in the middle.

Salford have now confirmed that they have arranged a short term resolution which means they aren’t in breach of minimum standards. Under the RFL minimum standards a team must have some form of tenancy in place, and today’s statement confirms a temporary deal has been secured.

They released the following update via their website.

The Club would like to provide an update in relation to developments to the situation with the Salford Stadium.

“There remains confidence from the necessary parties that an agreement on the stadium could be reached in the first quarter of 2024.

“Discussions remain ongoing surrounding a short-term agreement between the Club and Salford City Council in the mean time which we expect to have further clarity come the end of this month.

We’ll continue to provide updates on the full picture when appropriate to ensure supporters remain aware of the current state of play alongside the timelines that we are aware of.

“We’d also like to note our thanks to those who have showed their unwavering support of late.”

This is massively positive news for the Red Devils who had been in real danger of potential financial collapse, the club having previously stated that they were at risk of liquidated.

That was confirmed in a statement released three weeks ago by the club.

It read: “Our current tenancy arrangement expires on 1st December. A failure to resolve places the Club at risk of a compliance issue with the RFL in respect of minimum standards due to not having a minimum 5-year tenancy agreement in place. As a result, this would severely impact our IMG grading and potentially put our Super League status at risk, reducing our central distributions from £1.31m to circa £50k per annum and effectively liquidating the Club.

“We urge those involved to deliver on their word of recent years with urgency, and in doing so ensure that the future of Salford’s Club is safeguarded.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/salford- ... aga-85715/