Salford do seem to have issues with paying staff and getting into disputes. It might not actually be much worse than some other clubs but there's a perception there that there's dodgy dealings going on. The club doesn't seem to be doing much to calmly rebuild PR in this area, and Koukash doesn't play the political PR game very well. You might hate playing politics yourself, but in reality, you can't avoid it.
As for 2017, I don't think Salford have done enough close season to avoid the mid 8s yet again. Plus yoy're picking up a few injuries at the moment (like we had before 2016 kicked off).