The Salford Red Devils Saga - from a Salford Supporters Viewpoint

Matt Timms - Super League Raw Member

I just wanted to pen some thoughts following on from the debacle yesterday.

One thing that I think has been apparent throughout the whole saga is the lack of accountability taken by the club. We've pointed fingers at the council (on the stadium deal) and the RFL (around the takeover) and we should've held our hands up and said 'Yeah, while some of this stuff is outside of our control, the buck stops with us'. I think wider SL would have at least kept some respect for us as a club had that happened.

Fast forward to yesterday. The Club were seemingly under the impression that the RFL would have ratified the deal and therefore the club would no longer be under special measures. The club also seemingly believed all the relevent paperwork was in place for the deal to complete. So either;

1. The RFL didn't have all the relevent paperwork

2. The RFL didn't ratify the deal in time

3. The RFL never said that the club would be out of measures by the time of the game as the deal would likely take longer to ratify

Irrespective of the scenario that played out, we made, in my opinion, an abhorrent decision that would not only impact this fixture but the final standings at the end of the season. The team selection was clearly designed to put the RFL under pressure to ease measures at the 11th hour to allow us to field a stronger team. I genuinely think that team would have struggled to get past Midland Hurricanes in the CC and we should have shown Super League at least the same level of respect by fielding the same/similar team.

I hope we can get the deal over the line so we can compete fairly for the rest of the season but I think this is going to leave a bitter taste in a lot of peoples mouths, mine included, for some time yet.

Have a great Sunday folks and let's enjoy the game at the JSS this afternoon between Huddersfield and Warrington.