I didn't see the item so I can't comment on what was said but how much of the Salford story is publicly out there as stated fact?
i.e. there is a lot of talk about the contract situation, plenty of details about who these contracts were with, who was employed under them and the sort of money being paid but how much of this is in the public domain officially and how much is known 'through the grapevine'?
Broadcasters obviously have to be careful what they mention on air. I notice that that RFL statement itself doesn't provide much detail.

The part which irked me was Hemmings questioning why the RFL hadn't picked these breaches up in the seasons concerned, now they have a "live" salary cap. It's a major news story within the game and most fans have at least a basic grasp of what the allegations are, but neither he nor Clarke seemed to have bothered to do even the slightest bit of research. They didn't need to run a major forensic investigation on it, but it's pretty clear why they didn't come to light in the seasons concerned which made it a dumb question to ask.

No fair enough buddy, did the answer come out or was speculated about when the question was asked out of interest?

Just wondering whether they might have decided that a 'mock ignorance' question and answer session might have been a format to provide the info. Makes it a bit more interesting than just spouting info.
Like you said... one of the biggest stories in British RL for a long time so surprising that they wouldn't at least know the basics.

It's not really 80k as a "worst case" if it was, say, every player in the squad for 2 years...

As I've written elsewhere, Wigan got away with this because their lawyers successfully argued that because the offence had taken place at a time before the more severe penalties had been ratified, then they could only be penalised within the previous guidelines, where the points deductions were more modest. This is how they kept their points deduction down to four. Sadly for Salford, their offence, if proven, took place under the current rules ( 20 point maximum ) so the timing element does not apply in their case. Personally I think Wigan should have had a bigger penalty, but, rules is rules.

Strange the number of people quoting Koukash saying he would break the cap choose not to include the rest of the quote that went on to say "like others have done"
For clarity the full quote was "if it means breaking the salary cap to challenge the legality ofit I will do it LIKE OTHERS HAVE DONE"

If others jumped off a cliff, would Marwan do that too.

Not quite sure what adding the second half of the quote does to mitigate the offence. We're well aware others have broken the cap. Reference has been made to it earlier in the thread.

Salford are still the only ones to have deliberately concealed payments to players in an attempt to get around the cap though, however you dress it up. If Marwan has evidence that other clubs have done the same, then he needs to present it to the appropriate authorities. Put up, or shut up.

I'm not interested in whether Salford have breached the salary cap by a few bob. Let Koukash spend as much money as he likes on players at Salford. Get some proper world class star players into the SL competition and market the crap out of them FFS. The game is crying out for publicity and attention which it's not going to get with the current crop of plodders and Neville Nobodies populating every team in SL.

What relevance does that have? I seem to recall him intimating without any grounds whatsoever that Warrington were cheating the system. Which is a complete fabrication.

Still in that big 'Ol African river I see .....

Well said it makes me that people on here can't wait to hang Salford who over the last forty years have shopped at the pound shop whilst other clubs have players who a mathematician couldn't get get a squad of superstars ( loosely termed judging by the recent maulings the NRL clubs just dished out on there pre season mickey up ) under the pittance of this salary cap.

You sound like one of the Nouveau riche

.

All Salford had to do was top up player’s salaries on the quiet & cover their tracks, someone just wasn’t smart enough - the end.

They are a better team without the big names that took them over the salary cap threshold level

That must be all the more frustrating for the Dr

That is the most laughable thing about this whole shambles. You could understand what Melbourne Storm did to keep Cameron Smith, Inglis, Slater and Cronk happy and "under the cap". They had the best team in the world for a number of years and won various titles. Salford tried to replicate their scheming with Tony Puletua, Gareth Hock and Niall Evalds.

I am not having a go at Salford, I wish them well and their breach in some respects is not as bad as Wigan's. It's simply that hoping they will get away with a four-point deduction under the current rules is wishful thinking.

Although I doubt this is the case, could there be an element of playing dumb for the audience. They ask the questions knowing the answers for the sake of the viewers that may not know?
I did not see it as was at the FC match

I'm inclined to agree with you, but if we significantly raised the cap you would be left with 8 teams in the country (if that) who could afford to compete. I don't want to be playing the same teams 4 times a year regardless of whether the quality is better or not, and leaving it as a 12 team league would result in some almighty drubbings. Something does need doing, but I'm not really sure what the answer is. Theres just not the money in the British game to run a 12 (ideally more) team comp at a standard that can rival the NRL.

William wants a return to the good old days, you know when Wigan won everything by buying all the top quality players and all the other teams sent themselves to the brink trying to compete with them.

Spot on. It's alright Salford fans saying "oh but others do it"....that only serves to highlight the huge ego on Koukash (as I don't think it's not because he wasn't smart, more he was too cocky) not that some injustice is being done to Salford.

If other clubs can do it without being caught then Salford should've been able to do that too.

Spoken like a true pools winner - one minute you're at the pound shop, next minute the SC is 'a pittance.'

For all the bleating from Salford fans about the perceived injustice of this situation - fuelled no doubt by the facile ramblings of Hemmings and Clark the other night - are any of them directing their ire at Koukash, the instigator of these charges and the reason they could be facing a large points deduction? If there is anyone to be annoyed at, I'd suggest it's him - if he always intended to cheat the cap, the clever thing to do would have been to do it quietly and not tick off his co-conspirators; both of which he's singularly failed to do.

I'll say it again. If Koukash wanted to spend more money at Salford he could actually fund the Salford academy instead of going begging to the fans.

Im pretty sure Koukash doesnt have to run it by you before he decides what he wants to spend his money on.

No but he does have to run it past the RFL. And quite rightly. Koukash is (or has) exhibiting exactly the behaviour from club owners and management that we don't want in RL and is exactly the behaviour that got RL in the position we're in now.

Super League needs a Mancheser, Newcastle, London, Toulouse with a bit of money behind them. Pipe dreams really though isn't it?

Except that your principle is demonstrably no the case. We have seen the SC fall drastically, the amount paid to plays fall hugely, The percentage of money paid to players has fallen dramatically and the amount invested in these other areas hasn't risen by the same levels.

You are hiding behind a false dichotomy that clearly isn't true. Your argument that money spent on players is money that would otherwise be spent on these great things you and the other guardians of the games virtue want it spending on misses a third option. The option that is actually happening. That money that would have been spent on players isn't spent at all