So your bitterness that London has basically failed means that Salford and Dr Koukash inparticular are destined to fail also.
Everything you type is just steeped in Jealousy and what seems a perverse dislike of the Dr.

Who does this koukash think he is? Utter dick, Salford mean nothing and never will. Lets all laugh at koukash

Hull Fc mean nothing to everyone apart from Hull FC so your shortsited comment mean all!

Salford might not exist with Dr Koukash i hope it works out for him.

And don't get me started on your hooli I mean fans!

I think Salford have the potential to be a Chelsea of rugby league. Is that good or bad news for the game? Will there be anymore foriegn investors or benefactors? Is there a potential for a smaller version Premier League? Koukash has been good for bringing more marketing to the game, but seeing him on pitch at the end of the HKR game and sacking Vievers already. I would be worried as a Salford supporter that the doc's ego is a lot larger than the club. Anyway look forward to watchin the Salford circus!!!! Can the clowns become the trapeze artists!!!!

On which basis, let's put a big advert in the press telling anyone with money to stay away from Rugby League. It'll only cause problems. Proof: it hasn't always been used smartly.

Just say no to money - we're doing just fine as we are.

Where there's money there's media. We need a bit of soap opera. Provided the guy is good for the dosh, it's good for the game. The fact that he [iis[/i getting so involved is what makes this [imor[/ie encouraging. Lenegan at Wigan got stuck in and made big changes to the club for the better, and not just money. Different personalities, different ways no doubt, but money combined with a passion to make it work is all good. He'll make mistakes, and get lots right. None of us will actually know which is which until after the events pan out. If you make brave moves you always risk looking like a genius or an idiot, but I'd rather have something actually going on as at Salford, than just muddling along as usual.

Is this koukash building you a new ground as the 1 sided one you have at the moment is a joke.

The choice of new coach will say a LOT about whether Koukash is the real deal. Get the right coach in place and players will start to look at Salford very differently.

Somebody mentioned Warrington and how long it took to turn things around - how much quicker would it have been had they got the right coach sooner?

We're not paying the full salary cap at the moment you daft sod.



Tetchy. Anyone would think you're worried about something.

Ok, so I read to page 4 but had to skip on.

I can't see why Koukash is anything but a good thing for Rugby League. At the basic level he has made a weaker club potentially stronger certainly financially stronger so the league as a whole is slightly more healthy.

If I was a Salford supporter I'd be excited.
People have criticised Chelsea and Man City money in football, but I bet none of them were from those two clubs! I watch football regularly and they have made the league more entertaining by bringing quality names and competition in the league where there was a gap before.

I am all for improvingthe salary cap. The principles of trying to stop clubs spending what they have not is a valid thing to do. I'm not sure this is working though.
I'd rather go back to the days where Wigan had most money and won everything than limit the elite just to save the mediocre. (And I'm at the mediocre end of the league)

As long as clubs have it, let them spend it.

I look at Salford now and see the potential for building a team like the Fielding and Watkins days when they took some great names from rugby union and made a very entertaining team out of them. I'd love to see them do it again.

He can guarentee his place in Super league with hismoney for franchise so can build gradually.
I'd buy some decent players this year and get a Noble type holding role coach until the right one is available. I would sign players for next season so that excitement is generated and I'd build a team of entertainers that will bring people back to watch, even though a team of rugged tacklers may win more games.

But that's just me.

If I was looking at RU I think Ben Youngs and Freddy Burns would do well at our game
And I'd bring the Farrells back....father and son!

And maybe Carlin Isles to see if we can find the next Offiah.

You realise that almost killed the sport, yes? And nearly destroyed Wigan with it, although the latter shouldn't be a risk with the amount of money that Koukash has.

Raising the cap and allowing the 'elite' to flourish sounds like a great plan, but we have neither the number of rich clubs nor elite players to make it work. You'd effectively end up with a new, much smaller, SL comprising maybe 6 clubs max.

We have plenty of clubs able to spend more than this amount.

I can't fathom why there is such a large amount of people who seem absolutely wedded to not only this form of cap, but this specific value of it. This figure was a figure judged attainable over 10 years ago. It has dropped about 30% in real terms, yet we still have a portion of our fan base insisting it is still the right figure and structure.

Well no I don't know that it nearly killed our sport. Why so?

Smaller clubs not being able to manage their business is not the same as top clubs killing the game because they have too much.

I think Koukash has a point here. I dont think it would be a bad move to say clubs are allowed two players whose wages do not count on the cap, it would allow the top clubs to have a fighting chance to keep their best players from going to union/NRL eg Tomkins with Wigan. Maybe say they must be eligble for a home nations team as well.

Smokeys not taken his medication again.

As someone who is going to enjoy the watching the very finest that the sport can produce and knowing that you side with the RFL in all of the topics argued on here,what would your thoughts be if Dr Koukash bought the major players from the Australian side (should they win the World Cup,of course,and backroom staff,and house them at the SCS at Barton,all for the benefit of Salford City Reds ? )
I believe he has the finance to do that.
Like myself,he may be unimpressed with the standard of Super League at the moment and the Academy system has failed - hence the scrapping of the Under 20's - and it seems he is not prepared to wait for success.
Where does that leave the RFL as they had a review following the dismal England performance in the 2008 World Cup
and decided the Under 20's was the way ahead and the way to catch-up to the southern hemisphere sides ?

Why not make exceptions for England Elite players, and English players brought from Union.

catch 22 is the salary cap!

raise it- you will get clubs with money buying up all the top players

keep it as it is or lower it and risk losing quality players to NRL or union

maybe a smaller increase of another £250k may help keep some of ourt top players in our game

Firstly, i dont agree with everything the RFL does. I do agree with some of it, and i know some of it isnt down to them. I will go on to disagree with them twice below.
Secondly, i agree, for some clubs the academy and youth development system isnt working.

Thirdly, I think we need some form of talent distribution, and some form of restriction on clubs buying all the talent. Saying that if all teams were playing by the rules and Salford were able to bring over some top quality players I would be in favour of it. I think it would be a very good thing for them and as such for the game. I think that the biggest names in our sport are what helps us sell it.

the problem with rugby league and football is that players have contracts to the club only.
in rugby union and cricket the best players have contracts to club and country.

now which of the four sports do best on the international front?

Then again, have you seen some of the crowds at county cricket? And it is a struggle to take seriously rounds of the RU premiership that clash with internationals, especially their World Cup.

It isn't good that the cap hasn't been raised in so long, and it is becoming a problem. Not just for losing the likes of Sam tomkins, but also somebody like Bryn Hargreaves. It is a short career, with little security, that doesn't by itself leave you all that well prepared for much else afterwards.
On the other hand, most of the clubs still run at a loss and we've had 3 clubs go under in recent years, and others looking near the brink at times. Koukash talks about a level playing field with the NRL, but without their revenue, having their cap would be daft.
A rise to maybe £1.8 million is possibly due. Or a couple of players off cap. Much more than that and you'd have to be looking at 12 or even 10 teams, which focuses resources, but diminishes us in several ways.

Because people stopped going.

And this is not about clubs managing their businesses. That aspect of the cap vanished when they removed the percentage of turnover rule. Any club is now free to spend it's way into oblivion if it so chooses.

There are not enough top quality players to go around. Raising the cap to allow the handful of rich clubs to buy up all these players will not improve the quality of SL or RL in general. You already have club chairmen complaining about player wage inflation - how much do you think wages would rise if it became a free-for-all.

In any case there is virtually zero chance of this happening as it would require a majority of SL chairmen to vote for it.