With being a Salford RLFC fan all my life I live and breathe the club. I even do a radio show dedicated to the club on The Sounds of Salford, called Straight From The Fans' Mouth with Dennis Robins Riley. Last night an insider in the club tipped me off that owner Marwan Koukash was about to call time on the club...
Where this will leave us I don't know. But what I do know is that the fans are the lifeblood of any club. Chairman and players will come and go but the fans will always be there. Marwan Koukash has been outspoken while at Salford and upset many at the RFL. Some of the people he has employed, like Martin Vickers, has not always been good for the club but speaking hand on heart as a fan he has built a good team.
OK, his rows with the RFL have been to Salford's loss at times, and now it seems, for whatever reason - whether it be stress of the RFL or rows with Salford Council - I was told last night he will be gone by September. I chased it up with the help of Dennis Robins Riley and, yes, Marwan didn't deny it. He said he will sit down with his family and discuss it in September, adding that during the school holidays, instead of spending it with his family, he spent it in court. The sad thing is for me, being a fan, is that I get where he is coming from, and it looks to me like Salford is going to lose him as a chairman and owner.
Virtually every other club in Super League is cheating the salary cap I believe, yet it is always Salford who are to blame, so it seems the RFL will sadly get its way. Today not only did we not get our six points back, we also potentially lost a chairman, and this now puts the club into more turmoil. But one thing will remain. Salford RLFC will never die.
Here is my message for all true Salford supporters... `Keep the faith. We will rise again!'...
Meanwhile, Salford ended a depressing day with a 40-14 defeat at Warrington that condemned them to a second successive battle against relegation, suffering a seven try rout which ensured a place in the Qualifiers when Super League makes the split later this month.
Centre Ryan Atkins and loose forward Joe Westerman both scored two tries apiece and rookie stand-off Dec Patton contributed 14 points as Warrington moved to within a point of joint leaders Hull FC and Wigan.
Salford actually made the better start and went in front with an eighth-minute try from centre Junior Sa'u, who beat Warrington full-back Stefan Ratchford to Robert Lui's grubber kick on the last tackle. Gareth O'Brien, back on his old stomping ground at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, missed the conversion and was also wide with a penalty as the visitors failed to turn their early domination into a bigger lead. The Wolves were hampered by handling errors from unlikely sources, with Chris Hill and Ben Currie providing Salford with early gifts, but they gradually got their game together by half-time.
The hard-working Westerman bumped off Lui's attempted tackle to go over midway through the first half and, after Lui had gone close at the other end, Atkins struck twice in quick succession just before the break. The former Wakefield man demonstrated raw power to go over for his first try and a delightful combination of swerve and sidestep for his second and Patton, deputising once more for the injured Kurt Gidley, converted both from wide out, having taken over the goal kicking duties after Ratchford had landed the first. They had turned the game around to lead 18-4.
Warrington had a glorious chance to extend their lead within a minute of the restart after Salford lost the ball on their own 20-metre line but winger Tom Lineham spilled Rhys Evans' pass with the line open. However, Lineham made amends shortly afterwards with a sliding finish after the home side had engineered an overlap to make it 22-4.
Centre Josh Griffin gave the Red Devils renewed hope when he charged over for his side's second try and the gap would have been reduced further had former Warrington reserve hooker Sean Kenny been able to finish off a break by Sa'u, but he lost the ball in Brad Dwyer's tackle over the line. It proved to be Salford's last hope as Wolves scrum-half Chris Sandow began to turn the screw, pinning the visitors back with a 40-20 before increasing the pressure by forcing a goal-line drop-out.
That pressure paid off when Westerman sidestepped his way over for his second try on 59 minutes, and three minutes later Patton pounced for Warrington's sixth try after the ball had been pulled out of Westerman's grasp during his lunge for the line for what would have been his hat-trick.
As Salford wilted, Sandow produced a second 40-20 and crafted a try for winger Matty Russell with a pinpoint kick to the corner and Patton kicked his fifth goal from five attempts before Lui grabbed a consolation try ten minutes from the end. Final score Warrington 40 Salford Red Devils 14.
After the game I caught up with Ray Dix, who said: "If Marwan does go who can blame him? The last two home game we haven't even had crowds of 4,000 which for a Super League club is terrible. Yet we can take 600 to Catalan..."
Craig Piggot from Winton said: "It has been a bad day for the club all round"; and Dennis Robins Riley from Weaste said: "Marwan should, before he decides, sit down with the fans and not the men in suits at the AJ Bell and see what the real fans want. We love this club, Marwan, and will always be there for you but please listen to what we want, and we, the fans, will get the crowds worthy of you support..."
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
