The RFL do not distribute the Sky monies, that is done by Super League Europe.

The board of SLE (i.e. all club owners, CEO or whatever) voted on the dispersal of the funds, they voted for themselves.....

The RFL is a bag o'e but this time its not their fault alone

If fans bothered to go to games rather than moan about everything under the sun then we wouldn't be in this mess. The RFL is turning a healthy profit, it's being run well enough. Blame the clubs and fans.

Sibbs Rhinos,

The RFL's job is to regulate and administrate the game of professional rugby league in this country. If numerous clubs in the elite competition are financially unstable, it is the duty of the governing body to put measures in place to ensure that the integrity of the competitions it runs is secure. By helping us the way they did, they did that.

Do they need to do more? does our game need more financial regulations? do we need to look closely at how much players and agents take from our game?

The RFL have painted themselves into a corner. They have taken considerable grants to promote RFL (the sport), they chose to do this by concentrating on the "elite" super league teams. They grant the franshises based on a financial report submitted by the franshisees. This gives the RFL a get out, we only govern the sport and do not run the clubs, it's the clubs fault. If they refuse the bids they can be seen as not promoting the sport and the grants will need to be repaid. The RFL need to take a long hard look how to continue. They might be making money for RFL, the governing body but the money from the fans, TV etc. should go to the clubs not swell the coffers of the RFL, that might help clubs better than having to go cap in hand to the RFL for help, who can't be seen to help as it is their job to govern. It goes round and round and round. The only winners here are the RFL, it's the sport, clubs and fans who suffer.

I may be a bit out of touch, but the RFL and the clubs used to be the same thing; each (professional) club had a member on the council and an even say, and vote, in debates. I appreciate we now have a paid, non-club affiliated, full time chief exec and also that the full council might have been slimmed down to a workable number of delegates but AFAIK the general principle remains the same and all the people making decisions on behalf of the clubs (apart from the chief exec) are from the clubs, even if expected to be neutral on club issues.

It is clouded even more by SLE, but again 'they' are yet another collection of former club officials making decisions on behalf of the rest. All in all it's pretty difficult to blame the RFL/SLE without, at some level, blaming the clubs.

You are the idiot.

Your Mum is

Ignoring all the insults traded between some of the contributors to this thread, does anyone know what practical help Salford fans need to help their club survive? Our club benefited from a tremendous show of goodwill from the vast majority of RL fans -- there's no reason why that same support shouldn't be offered to the Reds.
And in terms of a permanent solution,if the RFL could offer to make a bid for our club, why not step into the council's shoes and form a partnership with Peel Holdings as Martin Sadler has suggested. Perhaps the other 12 clubs who have secured an increase in their Sky funding could start the ball rolling by donating that money back to save the Reds?

This is a very fair point. From what I recall there were several clubs that donated ticket proceeds to the Bulls, gaining great kudos in the process. Their gestures start to look slightly less altruistic seeing that they've since recouped the cash by divvying up TV money that would otherwise have gone to the Bulls.

I think the general perception is that the RFL agreed the bid for the Bulls because they realised the admin and the shareholding was a stumbling block to a genuine bid but there was never any intention of any long term holding of the ownership. Whether that applies to the Salford situation, I don't know, but if it does then maybe the same solution is appropriate - if not, it probably isn't.

What we should remember though is that doing exactly the same for each case isn't necessarily the [iright[/i thing to do. The RFL definitely should, and I'm sure will, do their best for the Reds but the best thing for the Reds situation might not be what turned out to be the best thing for us.

Absolutely fair point--each situation is different. However there are already some worrying similarities with our summer saga, not least the way the players and fans are being kept in the dark. What the Salford fans/players need is a clear statement from the RFL that they are on top of the situation and are working to produce a solution-- however different that might be from ours. I just hope the top brass have learned some lessons.

I guess that somethings are going to be common to most of these situations, one is that there must be some lack of business sense involved, even if there [iare[/i calls for desperate measures for desperate times...

Second there will always be a tendency to keep cards close to the chest, and I accept that much of this is pretty inevitable either to retain business confidence and/or prevent rivals from knowing he true situation - if your suppliers lose confidence in your ability to trade then you can kiss your business goodbye. Sadly, it's impossible to inform fans without simultaneously telling the world.

I guess any statement from the RFL would have to take into account what the Reds' management are saying, if the RFL come out and say, "we're standing right behind the club, ready to help", when the club are saying, in effect, "problem, what problem"? (as they appear to be doing) then it may be construed as undermining the board - so damned if they do and damned if they don't, to be honest.

That said, as you say, let's hope they put into practice all they learned and bring it to a successful conclusion.

This problem of clubs going bust will not stop until the RFL apply strict, financially sound tests on all the financial reports submitted by the franshisees prior to the granting the franshises. This will not happen until the next round of bids. In the mean time the RFL are like rabbits in headlights and as for learning - did you see that pig fly past.

The Bulls bid was in the top 3 soundest bids submitted, they went bust within 18 months. Most clubs are in a parlous state, if the RFL wanted 100% guarantee on viability we would have a SL of 6 clubs. Virtually every post you write slags of the RFL, I am yet to see a sensible solution to the financial crises most sports clubs, not just RL, find themselves in.

What on earth are you talking about? How can you apply a "strict test" to a plan for FUTURE business? What do you want the RFL to do - appoint a feckin clairvoyant?

Each Government of the Day has appointed a Clairvoyant they're called the Chancellor of the Exchequer and it doesn't work!

[url=http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12207/8364457/Assistant-coach-Sean-Long-is-still-hoping-to-remain-with-the-Salford-City-RedsSean Long linked with Bulls[/url

Now Sean Long is being linked with our club as the uncertainty around the Reds continues. Hopefully the dealings are honest and upfront with Salford as with the Sidlow deal.

So [ithat's[/i how we're going to cover scrum half when Luke Gale is injured

Well, we're not Huddersfield. Besides which, it seems that Salford have said to it's staff and players if they get an offer of secured work that they should take it with the club's blessing.

May be the RL could buy up their ground.



This would free up some money, and ease their short term cash flow problem. ?

( just an idea ! )



Salford RFL, ; unfortunatley for them are NOT too big to fail !

If credence can be given to recent comments by Salford Mayor, Ian Stuart that the Reds have already received loans from Salford Council of £1.5M, and that the Council are rejecting an ask of a further loan of £750,000 then the Reds are in dire straights in the amount of loan they need to stay alive.
He says that the Reds have a cash flow problem and have failed to pay their rent on the stadium and that fans are part of the solution.

"Fans are part of the solution", sounds like there is no-one with serious cash waiting in the wings, but they are leaving it a bit late to sort anything out for this season and it's fair to say that £750K would be a hell of a lot to ask the fans for.

Sadly I can't see a way forward for Salford. At least here at Bradford we have a potential fan base exceeding 10k which gives us some hope of future sustainability. The 3/4k Salford support is simply not enough. Perhaps if they changed their name to Manchester Reds they might be able to garner a bit more support but from what i've read the supporters would rather see the club die than see that scenario!

One problem, Salford don't own the ground. That is half the reason they are struggling, as they make no money on game day apart from ticket sales.

From the T&A today...

Contrary to reports, meanwhile, Bulls coach Francis Cummins has not tried to recruit Salford assistant coach Sean Long onto his coaching staff.

It is understood the former St Helens scrum half contacted Cummins about potential vacancies in the light of the uncertainty surrounding Salford's future.