[urlhttp://rugby-league.com/article/33675/rfl-statement-salford-red-devils[/url

Some other Club wants our T Shirt?

This is a megaton if they're found guilty. Surely docking points is ridiculous though if they are then wiped clear for the middle 8s?
Could be an absolute disaster depending on the outcome.

So breaching the cap kept them up in 2015 then?

BBC is reporting breaches in 2014 and 2015, so arguably it could have kept us up, depending on the size of the breach. So much for the cap being live - no wonder Marc Green was apparently so concerned.

Not sure a 20 point deduction is a punishment. Just guarantees they will be in middle eights, which with their squad they will win easily. So wipes out this season but no threat of relegation like we had.

Exactly.

It's a joke, but just not funny.

Dock 20 points off them and they'll keep a genuinely e team out of the 8s, with all attendant effects on chances of promotion.

Acid test for the new system is this. If Salford don't have any points deducted for the middle 8s then clubs will just do what they want in the regular season. Worrying that breaches 2 years a go are only coming to light now.

Maybe the 20 points Salford lose should be given to the middle 8 clubs

The ramifications are immense. Probably too big for the RFL to handle so I predict Salford will have no case to answer. SNAFU.

Absolutely. The points deduction MUST include the playoffs as otherwise the punishment doesn't fit the crime. If a club breaches the salary cap during both season and playoffs, the deduction must affect both.

Not a bit. WhoTF are Salford? When we progressed through our procession of mires, we were a big, arguably the biggest, fish but that didn't save our league status.

And what ramifications? Salford possibly collapsing? I know at least 4 clubs who would be very happy to step into any Salford shaped hole.

..maybe there could be others in breach or sailing close.Leigh have certainly attracted a number of SL players in a short space of time.After what happened to the Bulls,I would gladly see ALL irregularities punished accordingly....Do agree that any points deduction incurred by Salford should also apply as a penalty in the end of season middle 8's.

In the same instance shocking but somehow not surprising at all.
Also, I'd change the thread title, its not O/T, they are being investigated for a breach in the year we went down, if it is a 20 point deduction, which Id say is unlikely (have they implemented stricter rules since we went pop?), but if it was 20 applied in 2014 then we would not have gone down, Salford would have, and there is surely a case for a claim of loss of earnings for Bradford?

One thing Im almost certain of, the RFL wont get to a satisfactory conclusion in anything like quick time.

I would agree that any punishment needs to take into account both parts of the season, our punishment (quite rightly) directly effected our relegation chances, otherwise whats the point?

I'd also say well done to Mr Green for chasing this with the query about Puletua, despite being derided for it in certain quarters.

I think Koukash's not-so-mysterious tweet alludes to Green being a factor in this. He says something like "time to sit on my GREEN room and watch the game again". No need to capitalise the word green unless it had a double meaning.

Him and Beaumont are cut from the same cloth.

Insofar as the punishment - people on Facebook are calling for Bulls reinstatement into SL - that's plain nonsense. We need to earn the right to be there. They also forget that Bradford went into administration twice, and that was the major factor for us going down, not breach of salary cap regulations (probably a chicken and egg argument there).

Regardless, I hope Salford get what's coming to them, but I suspect the RFL will cave in to Koukash's big gob and surrender to his will.

I thought maximum deduction was increased to 12points after we went to administration? Has it been increased again?

Anyway - logically !!

deduction should be spread across the season in proportion. So 9points to regular season & 3 points to super 8's/middle 8's depending....

I think 12 was for going into administration

The ramifications do not run solely to Salford. If they did then it would be simply a case of Salford bringing any punishment on themselves. If it were found that the RFL had been negligent in policing a so called live salary cap and as a result Bradford had been relegated then surely we would have a case against the RFL not least for loss of income. And if we shouldn't have been in the championship then who else could have appeared in the MPG etc etc etc.

Sort of. Its the RFLs gig however, and they're not going to let us play with the big kids if we start kicking them. Abeit surreptitiously.

For once I don't think the RFL can be blamed on this one. Yes they are supposed to police a live salary cap but if somebody pays his players on 2 contracts, 1 what they declare and 1 that nobody knows about, what could the RFL of done.

Maybe the Dr should of thought this would come out when he was getting in dispute with his players over payments, some of them secret payments.

The RFL are now stuck in a pile of pop of their own making in trying to issue a punishment if Salford are found guilty, as has been mentioned if they get a points deduction and end up in the middle 8s but stay in SL then there is no punishment just a bad season.
So why not every SL team break the cap! just call it a bad season if they have the players to kill off all the Championship teams in the middle 8s no problem.
The RFL could issue a massive fine, so what! thats no punishment for Koukash "loads of Money"

My take, imidatley relegate them to the middle 8 playoffs wherever they finish in SL then deduct them 5 points with all games to be played away.

Is this not similar to what Melbourne did? How did that go for them?

They effectively had their season written off and then lost most of their good players.
The difference in this case is that huge can of worms called relegation, which wasn't a factor for Melbourne.

A better yardstick is Rangers in football. IF Salford have effectively had two sets of books (a la Melbourne) then they should immediately be relegated to Championship1 and start a clean club from scratch. Play out this seasons SL with 11 teams, at the end of the 23 rounds 1 team from Championship is automatically promoted with the other spots decided by the Play offs. As with the NRL only a draconian punishment will stop (hopefully) this type of cheating.

As everyone is saying, a massive points reduction in the regular season is no punishment at all as all points are wiped for the middle 8's.

My view is this will get wrapped up in appeal after appeal and nothing will be sorted till the off season when the RFL will quietly deduct a paltry amount of points for next season. I will not hold my breath on this.

No evidence to support of course...

BUT if this all blows up, would you be worried if you were DB and Leigh? He and Koukash seemed to take a liking to each other eventually, maybe Koukash shared some of his secrets in how to "fit" players under the cap??