His statements tonight: talking so much sense it's frightening. I'm praying that this guy will walk the walk as well as he talks the talk, because he seems to know exactly what needs to be done for the game (and for Salford).

Instantly spotted that we can't compete with Union and NRL with this rigid cap structure. More importantly, instead of the defeatist "we'll never compete with them" attitude, he's convinced that we can and that we should. Let's hope he doesn't get that ambition drained out of him by the "flat-cappers" ( both interpretations of that expression intended )

On Salford specifically, after the game, he cut through all the usual excuses about disruption and made it clear that he means business, and will kick out people that aren't helping achieve what he wants.

Hopefully he'll be putting similar rockets up the backsides of the RFL if they don't share his ambitions for the game. Poor Nige might come to regret whispering in his ear.

*IF* this guy is for real and sticks at it, he'll be the best thing to happen to this sport in a decade. Please don't let it turn out to be hot air!

Both the NRL and RU have salary caps. I'm not sure why you would expect a club owner to have any influence over the RFL in terms of dictating 'his ambition', apart from the fact that you seem to operate in a fantasy world that is totally detached from reality.

Indeed they do. Massively bigger than ours.

If the RFL aren't listening to very wealthy people with ambition and interest in the game, then who should they listen to?

Your obsession with Nigel Wood isn't healthy.

I'm not the one who credited him with 'single handedly' bringing Koukash into Salford.

They shouldn't 'listen' to anyone, certainly not people who want the sport to spend more money than it has and go bankrupt again. If clubs vote to increase the salary cap then it will be increased. I agree that Koukash is great for the sport but I'm not sure what relevance that has to the RFL or this bizarre rant.

He didn't ask for cap to be increased - he suggested it needed structuring to allow clubs to pay a few superstars. Quite right too. But don't let the complexities spoil your simplistic view of the world.

Terrific, that sounds like a recipe for success.

Koukash also promised a new full back will be signed tomorrow. He refused to name him. Given the dearth of available full backs it is hard to imagine who it might be. Given Koukash's obsession with Wigan it could be Kris Radlinski, although I would think it more likely to be Paul Wellens merely on fitness grounds. But who knows, maybe he will resign Luke Patten? Or perhaps he has struck a deal with Canterbury Bulldogs to get Ben Barba on loan in return for helping Barba get away from his alcoholic mates in Cronulla Shire, and having him eating a diet of Koukash goulash every day.

Wellens was my guess.

Hats off to Koukash for showing ambition, but his request for a Salary Cap revamp is down to one thing - He now fully realises that enticing any decent players to Salford will rely heavily on paying OTT wages, because Salford has no other attraction to most players of a good standard.

Two 'star' signings would probably eat up a good portion of the cap for them at the moment. Things will improve for them over time, but its becoming obvious that Koukash wants instant results.....I think he needs somebody close to him to rein him in and give him a few reality checks - He's bought Salford RLFC, not Manchester United.

If Koukash comes up with some sensible salary cap amendments then good for him, he can put them to the other club owners and if they find them suitable then they will probably be implemented. That's not really relevant in any way to anything that you have posted on this thread, which appears to amount to some sort of bizarre insinuation that the RFL are not competent because Koukash was able to spot 'problems' that you have created in your own mind.

You're letting your imagination run away with you. You'll find things less stressful if you focus primarily on what someone has written rather than trying to conduct an amateur mind-reading and then commenting on all the things [iyou think[/i they meant to say.

AKA - He wants to be able to spend more money on wages, and he's not wanting this for the good of the game or teams on the whole, he wants it solely based on Salford's needs.

That has absolutely ZERO to do with you trying to turn every thread you comment on into a 'Nigel is ' thread. And even if he did 'single handedly' bring him the Salford.....what's the problem there???

I don't see the problem with Koukash wanting to spend money based solely on Salford's needs, he owns them FFS. It's about time the sport had more people like this in charge willing to push the game on where it needs - and deserves - to be. God forbid a multi-millionaire with ambition, wanting to pour money into the game

Why are we trying to compete with the Aussie RL, thats like Aussie football trying to compete with the likes of Man Utd and City.

The sport has been close to going bankrupt over the past few years.

Let the sport sort itself out. We are seeing far more British youth playing which can only be a good thing.

It's funny seeing people talking down Koukash's ambition. Some people are clearly worried.

Koukash needs to invest heavily in player development in and around Manchester so he can produce (and attract) his own young stars over the years to pad out the squad with as good quality as possible. The better they get as a club, the more likely people will want to come.

So basically what he is saying is that Salford are already spending up to the salary cap and their team is still gash so he cant see any way to improve it because who wants to play for a team when he cant pay them over the top wages?

I don't think he's saying anything like that at all.

Please explain the flatcappers sucking the life out of him bit please?

Seeing as us flatcappers did not invent the salary cap us flatcappers did not invent the close shop mentality which is the franchise system

I have no objection to any multi millionaire/billionaire taking over any club and wishing to sign the best 13 players on the planet,be that club leigh, hemel hemstead, bramley


The thing stopping these clubs being taken over are your happy clappy super league rules,under our flatcap bad old days any one could invest what they wanted and take any club from the bottom to the top i.e wigan in the 80,s.Second division to world champions in a decade,what chance any lower level team doing that on the restricted happy clappy close shop???

Ah but clubs went broke...hmmmmm not like these days eh



So as I pointed out on a few other thread that once he realises the salary cap nonsense he will either try to change it or walk away as the top couple of clubs have got it boxed off under the current rules.

I f a club cannot improve under a owners leadership whats the point of him putting money in to scrap along the bottom.

Scrap the salary cap,raid union for there high profile players and down under for there stars if the owner is willing to fund it.

of course its all guess work but it does seem odd that a club owner should moan about the SC when his club will be spending nowhere near the cap

I think we're in heated agreement! The flatcappers I refer to are the ones who think today's flat salary cap is right. I agree with everything you said, especially the bit about raiding Union.

I'm worried that, as you mention, he may walk away if the current powers that be, whether RFL, existing clubs, or whatever mix of those stick to the status quo and leave this guy frustrated. The sport has a chance to embrace the arrival of a guy with pots of cash. Lets not blow it.

Spot on. We need to make the rules work for people who want to spend money. It is perfectly possible to design rules that neither send clubs broke, nor make it grossly unfair on others. Though if finding a great investor makes it "unfair" I'm not sure what we're supposed to do. Ask everyone to wait until every club has one? Only two key protections are needed. One rule to stop clubs being greatly indebted, and another ( very tight 'star' squad limits) to stop a ridiculously rich club stuffing the extended squad as well as the first team with all the best players, thus keeping them away from other teams, depriving them and the fans.

And Printer, what planet are you on where these rich people will pour in money for the good of the game? They'll almost always come in behind a particular club. Its up to others to design a system which ensures a knock-on ( no pun intended ) benefit to the game. Salford's not my club, but I think what's hopefully going to happen there is brilliant for the game.

Yeah, if only lower league/poor clubs of the past 10/20/30/40 years could over the SL period have built themselves into decent sides with or without wealthy backers, if only it were possible under the oppresive, awful, soul-destroying SL evil rules, what would we call these mythical teams? Wakefield? Huddersfield? Warrington? Hull FC? Hull KR? Catalans? Nahh silly names, it could never happen.