Connect with us

Rugby League News

Derek Beaumont on who should replace Salford in Super League if they go bust

Super League - Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has been speaking about img

Derek Beaumont has identified who he believes should replace Salford Red Devils in Super League if the financially troubled club drop out of the top tier.

Salford have endured a difficult couple of months to say the least. From asking for an advance on their funding before getting hit with demands to shed cost, the club have now been left in the situation of a potential ‘firesale’ as rivals continue to circle.

Marc Sneyd has been one of the Salford players heavily linked with leaving and names such as Dean Cross have generated similar headlines.

But the topic of Salford took a much darker turn recently as Beaumont even discussed what could happen if the Red Devils’ troubles led to the club dropping out of the top tier.

Salford ranked 12th in the most recent IMG Super League gradings, ahead of Toulouse in 13th and the likes of Bradford Bulls, who finished in 16th. But Beaumont believes the first point of call for a Salford replacement should be Bradford.

“I just don’t think it (IMG gradings) is a way to measure a sport, no other sport does it. To get promoted off a spreadsheet or relegated without finishing bottom is madness – they got away with it this time with London,” Beaumont told League Express.

“Let’s say something happened with Salford and they couldn’t continue, you would get Toulouse next in the pecking order. Is that the right thing to do?

“It wouldn’t even cross my mind if I was running the game. Previously they did a grading and application process and Leigh won it – to our detriment because it derailed our plans of where we were heading – but we had a go.

“I would look at Bradford who are the next after Toulouse, I would just jump to putting them in because it gets rid of the travel aspect.”

On the IMG scoring, Beaumont added: “You can still have frameworks that decide standards and that measures financial status etc. I don’t want to get into the Salford situation whilst it’s still ongoing.

“But, did they score zero on finance? The answer is no but yet they needed £500,000 just after the grading results so do they know what’s really going on there? I just think we can be moving in much better directions. We need to grab the sport and drive it.”

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. John

    January 23, 2025 at 9:48 pm

    If I were to include my thoughts on Derek Beaumont, they would be edited out.
    Much as I agree with his comments on IMG in this particular instance, planning who should replace Salford before there is any need is just really poor taste, but then, much of what comes from Beaumont could be deemed of poor quality.

  2. Mark Watson

    January 23, 2025 at 11:12 pm

    I believe Beaumont would like a Lancashire league and a Yorkshire league. He’d have leigh, Wigan, St Helens and Warrington in the Lancashire league. They’d play each other a number of times then play offs and a final. That cuts out the traveling.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Must See

More in Rugby League News