“They’re not rugby league people” – Salford Red Devils CEO gives update on club owners and finances

Salford Red Devils CEO Chris Irwin has spoken on the club’s status ahead of their home game against Leeds Rhinos.

Financial issues have plagued the Red Devils for months with their initial request for an advance on their RFL central funding coming in November, however, almost six months down the line the problems at the club persist.

That’s seen them placed under a restricted salary cap with the Red Devils only able to register £1.2 million on the cap, meaning players such as Nene Macdonald have not played, whilst stars like Marc Sneyd, Tim Lafai and most recently Kallum Watkins have left.

Unpaid or late wages have also affected those at the club with that situation being something that Irwin previously spoke about, labelling it “embarrassing” and assuring that it wouldn’t happen again. It did, albeit the wages were only a day late as opposed to a week.

He’s now fronted the media and spoken live on Sky Sports’ pre-match coverage ahead of the clash between Salford Red Devils and Leeds Rhinos.

Salford Red Devils CEO confirms club owners’ “interest is the stadium”

One of the most telling lines of Irwin’s interview was his admittance that the club owners are “not rugby league people” and that their interest lies in the stadium and what profits it can bring.

On that, he said: “Listen, these people in Switzerland, in LA, they’re not rugby league people. I think their interest is this, the stadium, the land around it, the development. They’re looking to put a hotel on the ground, a children’s room hotel, an indoor sports arena.

“We’ll get 20% of the stadiums as a club, so that gives us more security than we’ve ever had before. Under the previous ownership, the matchday income was next to nothing. We didn’t get any food and beverage, we didn’t get any of the revenue that came with the catering and food and advertising rights. So we’ll get that, we’ll access those funds at that point.”

He also confirmed his role was to keep the club afloat and continue to bring costs down, explaining:”The owners have asked me to kind of keep the club on a lifeline at the moment, which I’m doing. My job at the moment is to control what I can do and that is to manage the club’s budgets, bring costs down significantly because we were operating far beyond our means and that’s what I’m doing at the moment until the significant funds are available.”

Sky Sports ran an interview of full-back Ryan Brierley confirming how tough the past few months had been, to which Irwin reacted: “It’s really sad, Brian. I’m seeing it every day with the players, they are going through the mill with it, it’s an incredibly challenging time as it is for all of the staff, and when you see a squad that was built being taken away from them and friends leaving, it’s really sad, and I feel it each time I move a player on.

“But it’s the situation that we’re in at the moment, it’s a situation that I was brought in and I wasn’t expecting this when I came in, but it’s something I have to deal with and take control of to protect the interests of this club.”

Having made wage payments late for two consecutive months, Irwin confirmed that the club’s funds are “right on the wire” until the large cash injection comes in from the owners.

He explained: “We’re right on the wire, every month we’re right on the wire in terms of cash, yeah. So they’re drip feeding money into us and until those large funds land then I’ll cut the cloth accordingly and do what I can do to ensure that this club keeps going.

His final message was a powerful one, stating: “I will continue to fight for this club and the future and the safeguard of this family club as close to my heart as to these fans here.”

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