No they don’t have plenty of quality, I don’t know where people are getting this from!

Sorry mate but it’s not true. They have some quality no doubt but after the first 15 they have wry little and absolute nothing after that, no reserves at all. This by the way is not just my opinion but I’m reliably informed the opinion of their coach.

It wouldn’t take much of an injury crisis to totally derail them.

They have 27 players of greatly varying quality, that’s it, 27 players for a season. We have 33 and some consider that thin.

So yeah they will do ok if they have no more than one injury at a time, good luck on that one.

Salford have a few sicknotes in the squad and I don't think they have that much upfront. I think it's pretty obvious there has been a shortage of props on the market for a couple of seasons now.

Watkins and Burgess both quality but both very injury prone. Croft is very good half and Sneyd has shown he can perform well on the front foot, his defence is questionable and he needs that platform that I am not sure he was the grunt up front to consistently get.

I think they do have some decent players in the latter squad numbers, Sarginson and Atkin are both good player. Livett is rated very highly by most SL coaches but there are issues around attitude off he field hopefully he gets his head screwed on. If he does i think he will have a very good career. Jack Wells is another quality player however again injury seems to derail him every time he looks capable of really kicking on.

I keep coming back to 9's and Ackers is another who could be crucial to them.

All in all though on paper I think our squad is stronger than theirs.

On the first choice line up it’s close, but they will need a huge amount of luck to keep that line up. It’s not so much quality, it’s depth.

You wouldn’t want the likes of Bowes, Eseh or Hall for example to play to many games but we know they could hold the line for a bit in a crisis. Salford have no such players.

Think both those 2 will finish above us and 6 or 7 more . But expecting us to play a lot more expanding rugby

The biggest key factor with Salford is the coach. He showed in his previous positions that unless he could out muscle oppositions that he had no plan B.

With that set of props and if he hasn't developed/evolved as a coach it could be a long season for them.

Mossop is a big loss for them.

Yeah I get that and you're probably right but that's not the point. No coach, however good, can see a season through with so little depth, so IMHO the coach is not the key factor here, the lack of players is.

Salford have just signed Alex Gerrard so they are clearly still adding to the squad.
I don't think they'll be easy beats,certainly in the early rounds before injuries hit. They can always get loan players later.

Yep if they stay lucky they will do fine.

Where the hell do they get their money from, I know he's hardly a superstar but all the same. Does anyone get the feeling that Salford is treating this season as poop or bust?

You can't have it both ways, they either have a small squad which is saving them money for others or they have a big squad and won't suffer from injuries so much.

Aye?

Re loans, I'm wondering how much Toulouse's survival strategy hinges on the lack of a Catalans reserve side. Dare say there'll be some support there.

Good point, may well depend on Catalans injuries coupled to success or lack of it.

Although Toulouse in SL gives Catalan a "tasty" derby fixture, I'm not certain that they (Catalan) will be over keen on sharing the small pool of French players and they certainly arent going to loan out any "stars".

You said they have a small squad with no reserves, and then said you don't know how they are paying for the extra player.
They are able to pay I guess because they have a small squad with no reserves.

Not quite what I meant.

I don’t know how they afford the players they have.

They dont run an academy which isnt cheap

It's simple. They don't pay their bills.

The rent at AJB is £450k per annum - they have defaulted every month since they moved in and Salford council have to pay the missing £300k.

They also were in a CVA - they didn't pay it, so it defaulted and was written off.

It's not a sustainable business model, and it's come home to bite them.

The end is near for Salford.

They have less than 1000 ST holders!!!!

Isn't it illegal to continually trade at a loss?, year on year I mean.

They aren't trading at a loss whilst ever someone else is footing their bills.

If you don't pay your rent/mortgage/bills, you won't become bankrupt if I pay them for you.

As I say, the end is near.

* Worth noting - they could pay their bills themselves...but then they couldn't spend all that money on the playing squad!

I agree and it’s an utter disgrace.

Apart from the very real possibility that they are taking the place of a more viable club, there presence puts at risk more viable clubs in SL who may just have a poor season or clubs like us who live within our means.

I don’t mind clubs with poor crowds or stadiums being in SL, so long as they do so within their means. We ourselves have been guilty of this to some degree in the past though nobody ever gave us a new stadium or a mega rich auger daddy but Salford are just brazen.

They cannot survive, they are a dead club walking in their current guise. I used to like Salford but the move and the Dr has made them a non entity off the pitch and a fake on it.

I do feel for what’s left of their old fan base and I’d love to see them rescued and returned to Salford but I can only see that if they drop a division at the same time.

I have read somewhere that Sale Sharks RU club are in talks with Salford City FC [owned by Class of 92 Man Utd stars to jointly purchase
A.J.Bell Stadium.
If it happens, reading between the lines, Salord will no longer play at the AJ Bell stadium and could be on their way to a much inferior ground [ i wouldn't call it a Stadium

That’s all true but I’d say the Peninsula stadium is actually far more suited to Salford’s current needs.

it also shows the 'Holy Grail" of a brand new stadium, might not be actually a Holy Grail...

although I am a little jealous of Salford's recent visit to finals.. would be nice to have some of that!

I think it actually shows that renting a stadium and not having control over the day to day running and income streams is not the way to go.
Hopefully with MC in charge and with the ground and all the income streams under our own control, then our ground redevelopment will be a much better proposition.

Didn't seem to do them much good, though Covid restrictions did take the edge off it so some mitigation.