Super League club’s Managing Director hits back at criticism of ownership scheme

Salford Red Devils are hoping to become the first community owned Super League club and their scheme has already raised £160,000.

However, it has been criticised recently. Some have said it is wrong for the club to expect the fans to pay to stop their star players from leaving whilst others criticised the loan scheme the club offered for fans who can’t pay a lump sum.

This had a 19.9% APR which some said was unfair.

Now Managing Director Paul King has hit back at this criticism.

“It only surprised me when people don’t ask you first, that was a bit disappointing,” he said on BBC Radio Manchester.

“But just to cover that up, we launched a community ownership fund, you can go on, go onto the website, you can donate. We got asked to provide a direct debit option because there isn’t a direct debit option through CrowdFunder. So in league with the local authority, the credit union was who we chose because they were not for profit and anything that overspills goes back into the community. So we went with them, we took a bit of criticism because of that. I think as of yesterday there were three people that had used that facility.

“What I would say to anybody who’s listening, if you go back on the website, if you’re not happy about it, up to the 5th of June when the crowdfunder element closes, up to the 5th of June, you can press the refund money button and get your money back.”