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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Looking for the oldest starting squad: Salford



1. Ryan Brierley – 32

2. Nene McDonald – 30

3. Tim Lafai – 33

4. Esan Marsters – 28

5. Deon Cross -28

6. Jayden Nikorima - 27

7. Marc Sneyd – 33

8. Brad Singleton – 32

9. Joe Mellor – 34

10. Jack Ormondroyd – 32

11. Sam Stone – 27

12. Kallum Watkins – 33

13. Joe Shorrocks – 24

14. Chris Hill – 37

15. Joe Bullock – 31

16. Chris Atkin – 31

17. Shane Wright - 28



Average 30.5 Years old

Under 24 - 0

25-29 - 6

30+ - 11



The oldest team and smallest squad goes to Salford Red Devils