Salford Red Devils must ‘sell players without delay’ as Super League club told to reduce salary cap | Rugby League News

Salford Red Devils have been directed to “sell players without delay” after they were issued a sustainability cap of £1.2m by the Rugby Football League.

The Super League club finished fourth in the table last season before losing to eventual champions Wigan Warriors in the playoffs, and made the semi-finals in 2022 before suffering defeat to St Helens – again, the side who would go on to lift the trophy.

Salford were in a Grand Final as recently as 2019 too, losing to St Helens at Old Trafford, but revealed on Wednesday their squad will be cut apart having been told to reduce the club’s salary cap by the RFL.

“The club has been directed to sell players without delay,” the club said in a statement labelled ‘the truth behind rumours’.

“The position is the RFL has issued a sustainability cap of £1.2m and until we reach that, we are now prohibited from registering players for the upcoming season.

“The terms of receiving the advancement [Salford were given a central distribution advancement of around £500,000] were that the club be placed under ‘special measures’ requiring a reduction in overheads of £800,000.

“We were not given a clear timeline for compliance on required expenditure reductions, therefore the club took the decision to hold our position for the short-term while investor negotiations are ongoing.

“During this time, the club has received offers for a number of players, none of whom have been available for sale until today.

“Investor negotiations continued over the weekend as part of the lengthy, rigorous process to secure a takeover for the club.

“This is still live and we are working to expediate, details of which we can’t disclose given the non-disclosure agreement in place.”

Such was the volume of traffic to the Salford Red Devils website after the statement was released, the club confirmed the website had actually crashed.

Salford also explained how local funding cuts saw a promised subsidy from Salford City Council last March never come to fruition – something the club still believed was incoming when committing funds to recruitment and pre-season training.

“One investor negotiation collapsed due to the investment risk of not having any confirmed position from the council on when the stadium acquisition would be finalised – an example of the delicate negotiating position we find ourselves in,” Salford added.

“In March, it was suggested by Salford City Council the club could receive a subsidy control grant to support rugby league and the rugby development pathway in the city of Salford and Greater Manchester.

“In November, Salford City Council advised that the subsidy control grant was not available due to funding shortfalls elsewhere, the impact of which was that the club had already committed funds to player and staff recruitment and paid for pre-season preparations including a warm weather camp in Portugal.

“Effectively, these projected funds had already been allocated.

“We believe we have acted in the best interests of the club, players, staff and our fans, given the complex situation we find ourselves in with multiple dynamics in play.

“We empathise and understand the frustration of our fans and are deeply sorry to reach this position.

“Our focus remains in working to explore all avenues possible for the long-term stability and success of Salford Red Devils.

“Immediate next steps are to continue the potential takeover process to secure investment as soon as possible, while now simultaneously selling players to meet RL Commercial regulations.”

Salford travel to St Helens for their Super League season opener on February 15, live on Sky Sports.

2025 Super League – key dates and what to look out for

March 1: Wigan Warriors vs Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas
April 17-19: Round 8 – Rivals Round
May 3-4: Magic Round (St James’ Park, Newcastle)
July 24: August 31 – Round 20 – split round across two weekends
September 4-7: Round 25 – Rivals Round fixtures reversed
September 18-21: Round 27 – last round of regular season (dates and times tbc)
September 26-27: Elimination Play-Offs
October 3-4: Semi-Finals
Saturday October 11: Grand Final (Old Trafford)

Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+.