2025 Salford Red Devils : Tue Dec 31, 2024 3:54 pm  

2025 Salford Red Devils

The Salford Red Devils are approaching the 2025 Season in disarray. Operating as the only community club in Super League at a time of big losses amongst most of the 12 clubs and a reduced handout from the Sky Sports deal. Having already asked for an advance of £500K of the £1.3M yearly allowance, Salford are on borrowed time. Previous season have seen the club chew through loans from Salford Council, a cash injection of £364,270 from a Community Share Scheme, and sales of Tyler Dupree to Wigan, plus Broadie Croft and Andy Ackers to Leeds. A report from an independent team of auditors recommended a reduction in the playing squad by around £700K. Rumours abound of clubs circling Salford with an eye on their star players. Marc Sneyd has been linked to Hull KR and Leigh, Deon Cross to Hull FC and Ryan Brierley to Wigan. Nene McDonald spent the International season strutting his stuff in the hope of a return to the NRL.
Paul Rowley, possibly one of the best British Head Coaches in the game has served notice that this will be his final season as the Head Coach before becoming a Director of Rugby.

2024 Season Review

Paul Rowley and the evergreen Marc Sneyd marched Salford into the playoffs with ease. Pre-season predictions, marked Salford to struggle with the loss of Croft and Ackers to Leeds. Instead Sneyd renowned for his kicking game was able to marshall his troops around the pitch. Partington. Singleton and Watkins used brain not brawn to work the edges instead of pitch battles through the middle. A fourth place in the table behind Warrington was secured with a game to go in the regular season.

Transfers Out

Ollie Partington, Amir Bourouh, Andrew Dixon, Adam Sidlow, Cade Cust

Transfers In

Esan Marsters, Chris Hill, Joe Bullock, Sustin Sangare, Sam Davis

Transfer Analysis

Ollie Partington would appear to be the biggest loss to the Salford squad, the much prized asset moving on to the warmer climes of the South of France. Dixon retired and Sidlow is going around once more with Swinton Lions. Cade Cust never materialised as a top overseas halfback and will ply his trade next season at hooker with Hull FC.
Top steal from Huddersfield was Esan Marsters who at times was unplayable. Salford will now boast three of the best Centres in Super League, which will require juggling Nene McDonald onto the wing and utilising Marsters and Lafai on the edges. Question marks are still floating about the forward trio of Hill, Bullock and Sangare. Chris Hill a top international forward in his day, tends to look like a punch-drunk boxer a couple of years past his prime.

2025 Predictions

Salford can field a decent starting 13 on any given day. The question which hangs over the Red Devils is how many of the current squad of 24 will still be there at the start of the season. Salford survived the loss of Dupree, Croft and Ackers, but can they cope without Marc Sneyd? The chances are Sneyd will just be the start of the domino affect, with just a team of Academy players, like the one that played Wigan at the end of last season, left to fulfil Salford’s Super League fixtures. Financial penalties will see the end of Salford’s Super League ambitions, with no chances of obtaining a grade A licence and every chance of slipping down to a category C.

Final position is somewhere between 6th and 12th but I sense a total meltdown at the club so 11th is my prediction.

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Tue Dec 31, 2024 6:59 pm  

Obviously, a lot of thought went into the above post, SS (j'appplaud).

Just for context, before Bongser reads it again; are you enthused by Salford's plight? No judgement either way from this party btw.

Personally would love to snaffle Sneyd - it would solve several problems for Leigh all at once: a halfback partner for Lam and a decent kicker from both hand and cup - things would look up for the forthcoming transitional season.

Never like to see a Rugby League club on its uppers. Leigh have been there, Bradford are still years away from stabilising after their "fall from grace", and now both 'Fax & Broncos seem to be in an alarming descendancy, if not death spiral.

Salford's main problems arose with (and are perpetuated by) the move to Barton. Bongser had a mate (Pete, now dead) who used to volunteer at The Willows for years, but stopped even attending games when it would take him THREE buses to get there from the centre of Salford. Marwan K was very well meaning (and paid off all their debts defore leaving) but, like a lot of super-rich people, didn't think of the average bloke (or blokess) in the fanbase. Derek is different.

Think back to The Beeb's post 1895 Final coverage. MK was asked if he would like to get involved with his mate's Centurions (as we then were). He replied in the affirmative "If Derek will let me."

Derek didn't and the next thing we knew Marwan was "bankrupt" (though probably in a Trump sort of way)!!

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Tue Dec 31, 2024 8:44 pm  

Bent&Bongser wrote:

Obviously, a lot of thought went into the above post, SS (j'appplaud).

Just for context, before Bongser reads it again; are you enthused by Salford's plight? No judgement either way from this party btw.

Bongser, nice to hear from you. Am I enthused by Salford's plight? I would say so, but I do try to be balanced.

I am old and crotchety, and definitely hold a grudge, for instance: I was delighted to see Wakefield relegated especially at the LSV. In my opinion Castleford and Wakefield have taken Sky's payments and trousered the money. They never got close to the salary cap and promised for more than 30 years to upgrade their grounds and facilities. Wakefield have now suffered, and the grudge is wiped clean. Don't get me started on Widnes but, Salford have lorded it over Leigh since that Challenge cup at Hilton Park when Turley, Svabic, Duffy and Baldwin et al produced a great cup shock in front of the BBC cameras. (February 11th 2001 round 4 Leigh 16 Salford 12). Since then they have snaffled our players, and beat us on too many occasions. Only now are Leigh on a par with our local neighbours. Let them have their pain, if they rise from the ashes they can have my respect again.

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Tue Dec 31, 2024 9:01 pm  

Fair dos, Sep.

All the best for 2025 to you & yours.

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:01 am  

Happy New Year fellow contributors.

I have been watching closely the events unfolding at Salford but my thoughts on the matter are somewhat contradictory.

firstly, I share the pain of their fans. We Leigh fans know all about this kind of glorious uncertainty and the fear of what the future holds. I do not wish that upon anybody.

However, Salford as a club are a busted flush and the time for their position to be fixed is fast approaching. If it isn't then the future for Salford is bleak in the extreme.

Salford are currently holding on to the belief that an investor or investors is/are willing to step in and throw money at the club to ensure their financial survival. The problem for Salford is that there is nothing there for an investor to invest in. The club owns nothing, appears incapable of growing its fanbase, is losing money hand over fist and owes substantial sums already. Why would someone step in in those circumstances? The club is a financial black hole.

The clock is ticking.

RL Commercial 'auditors' have already poured over the books and, as it has been reported, have set out an emergency survival plan in the event that outside funding fails to materialise imminently. They are staring at the abyss.

What do I know? there could be a daft old sod out there who is a fan of theirs and who has too much money than sense and who is about to pump substantial financial lifeline into the club. Negotiations are supposed to be going on but no news is emerging. Salford fans who are now experts on contract law dismiss this wall of silence as mere evidence of a confidentiality clause in play. The problem with confidentiality clauses is that the press usually gets hold of who the interested parties are and then publishes all they can find out. Such a clause does not prevent the press from doing their work. As things stand nothing has been reported. I fear for Salford that silence is not necessarily golden and in any event time is running out before the already planned fire sale of players will be forced upon them.

Salford finished a superb 4th in SL last season and were rightly lauded for their coach, their style of play and the excellence of their players. Yet this sticks in the craw for me. This was achieved only because they were living beyond their financial means. They were running at a substantial loss so just how good a team would they have been able to put out if it was based on player salaries that they could actually afford. Well, it would be difficult to imagine that it would still be the team of stars that the are currently holding on to.

If a fire sale has to happen and with each passing week this seems more likely to be a question of when rather than if, then their first team will be ravaged by departures. They are likely, without any further funding, to need to put out an academy level team week after week to fulfil fixtures. It would be difficult to envisage anything other than a bottom placed finish and with a consequential dramatic fall in their IMG grading then relegation would be an inevitability with part-time Championship rugby to look forward to, possibly for years, potentially forever. If someone on here says that will not happen then, as has already been said elsewhere in this thread by others, just think Bradford, just think Widnes. It can and it does happen.

On the question of who I hope the club signs if a fire sale occurs at Salford then I agree that Sneyd would appear the obvious choice. A goalkicking half back who well and truly bosses his team around the park. Do I think he would be a good fit for us. Just give me a nanosecond to consider that one.

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:46 am  

why are we posting negative reports about other clubs on this site. is it because the only positive would be about the pies
not a day for being pessimistic lets hope Salford Halifax Whitehaven Workington and all those not far behind them including us all pull through

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Wed Jan 01, 2025 12:24 pm  

They can start by paying rent on the stadium.

Benefits whale and, much like the council, it's easier to spend money when it's not yours.

I agree that Sneyd would solve a few of our issues, and I know we have more creative outlets than 2024's Salford squad but as we showed in our games against them, you snuff Sneyd and they fold.

Re: 2025 Salford Red Devils : Wed Jan 01, 2025 1:27 pm  

satanicmills wrote:

why are we posting negative reports about other clubs on this site. is it because the only positive would be about the pies
not a day for being pessimistic lets hope Salford Halifax Whitehaven Workington and all those not far behind them including us all pull through

The nature of sport, is that one team wins and the other team loses. Positive and negative. Teams finishing bottom half will be largely seen as not having a good season. Rugby League is full of clubs struggling with financial issues, Salford, Halifax, Widnes and Whitehaven. Other teams like Oldham and Keighley dare to dream.