Salford Red Devils have confirmed that the future of the club is at risk due to delayed confirmation over their stadium.
The Club has issued the following statement on the stadium situation, and the lack of progress made during almost 3-years of discussions.
The statement reads: “Until this point, we have been bound by good faith and an understanding that our cooperation would result in a timely and fair agreement on securing our future at the stadium built for our club over a decade ago. It is clear that our cooperation has been misinterpreted as our consent for inaction by some officers in the Council.
“Admirably, Mayor Dennett has moved with the intention of keeping the Club in the City of Salford, embracing our transition to community ownership, and recognising publicly our role in the important delivery of physical and mental health support across our communities. However, for this to continue, we urgently need Council officers to act, and to see a conclusion from the Council in their negotiations over the lease before it is too late.
“After endless pontification and procrastination by Council officers, we are less than a month away from having no such agreement, and the stark reality now is that without their action in the coming days and weeks, the future of the Club is at risk.
“Nearly 3-years on from the initial approach made by Sale Sharks to purchase the stadium – a move which would have compromised our home and, as a result, our Super League status – the Club has continually struggled yet continued to operate under the terms of an unfavourable lease agreement that has hampered our ability to become self-sustainable and grow.
“In addition, there has been a series of failures from which the Club must seemingly always bear the brunt alone.
“The Club is personally loaned and guaranteed to its limits, having made incredible sacrifices to survive – including the subsequent sales of star players that were only necessary due to a lack of resolution over the stadium deal. Had this been in place when expected – prior to February 2023 – access to the proceeding income streams would have made unforeseen reductions to central distributions less significant a blow and our position now be much stronger.”
