i fear for salford long term, the maths just does not add up and we have seen this sort of thing before across this sport and others (leeds utd, portsmouth, gretna, bradford bulls). its ok whilst he is pumping all the money in, but there is no solid base (turnover) to build on

Dress it up any way you want those figures are a disaster and can only leed to ruin.

When will fans realise there is no such thing as a free lunch - this years team better perform or I fear the worse.

Yep, I'm not having a go btw. I think a strong Salford is vital to the game and hopefully Koukash is in it for the long run. From what I've seen and heard it appears he is and I can't see why he'd spend so much money just to pack it in. I just hope he's investing in the right places (ie not just on the field) and has a plan for getting Salford on sustainable footing in the future.

Having said that it's only a year. It took Hetherington & Caddick years to get Leeds on a solid footing and Leeds, though in dire straits, were in much better shape than Salford were. So hopefully, to misquote Churchill, it might be the end of the beginning for Salford.

The deal for the club at the Stadium is a shocker. Turnover reflects that as no bar income, food income etc etc. Hands are tied so MK has to buy the Stadium or look elsewhere.

Peel & the Council could face having a White Elephant soon as both Salford AND Sale cannot make a profit without the additional income ownership would bring.

Sale's latest declared crowd (including many who didnt go!) was just 4,700 so they are probably losing a heck of a lot more than the Red Devils. Mind you income from RFU will go a long way to limit those losses.

When Dr K first came in there was great talk of building a retail/hotel complex around the stadium area and that being a part of the club's infrastructure providing extra revenue streams. That seems to have gone very quiet recently and I suspect has become mired in local authority politics coupled with Peel Holding's long term ambitions.
Unless that situation changes I fear for the long term future, however looking at the squad for next season, the improvements in the coaching side, better management and adminstration there is plenty to be cheerful about as a Salford fan

It has nothing to do with the lack of supporters, of course we would like to have a few thousand more through the turnstiles but where the majority of clubs make vast amounts of income through corporate hospitality, events, catering, bar/snack sales etc we earn close to zilch (we do take a small cut of the match day corporate). The reason Koukash is continually banging on about increasing numbers of season ticket holders etc is because for Salford, that and sponsorship is the only genuine income stream we have. If we owned our own stadium, I guarantee you attendances wouldn’t be such a hot topic and Marwan would just accept the fans will come when the team produce.

At the moment, without the input of a wealthy owner such as Koukash the club just simply isn’t self-sufficient and viable hence why we were hours from going under. This is Marwan’s biggest task IMO as our chairman, it isn’t winning Super League or the Challenge Cup as eventually silly amounts of cash on good players will achieve that it’s about leaving the club with a prosperous future for years to come. Unfortunately the only way he is going to achieve that is by building us a new stadium elsewhere, or buying a majority share in the AJ Bell Stadium – both will cost millions.

A year or two back there was talk that Koucash was looking to buy the stadium. Is this now no longer the case?

Quote: John Gilbert Reds "Unfortunately the only way he is going to achieve that is by building us a new stadium elsewhere, or buying a majority share in the AJ Bell Stadium – both will cost millions.'" Do you reckon this is related? www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ew-6857690

Quote: John Gilbert Reds "Unfortunately the only way he is going to achieve that is by building us a new stadium elsewhere, or buying a majority share in the AJ Bell Stadium – both will cost millions.'" Do you reckon this is related? www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ew-6857690

Not really. I believe they’re looking at a 3,500 capacity stadium for Swinton which before all the jokes start is obviously much lower than our 2014 average and therefore wouldn’t be suitable for Salford to ground share. In addition, I don’t think Salford City Council would be daft enough to approve planning for a stadium any greater in size knowing full well they could be left with a white elephant on their hands at Barton.

I think that is more a case of Koukash learning from the problems at Salford and wanting to ensure the same wouldn’t happen should he take over ownership of Swinton.

No worries, didn't think you were having a pop. I think you're right that we don't have the income streams yet to be viable and a big factor in that is the stadium. You're right that it is early days and there was a lot of investment required to improve on and off field facilities. So losses at the beginning are no surprise. Still more to do but we're in a much stronger position with both so hopefully we can start attracting more fans and more corporate spending. Koukash repeatedly says he's in it for the long term and if he wants a return on his investment he needs to be. He's made the right noises about his role being to resurrect the club but then to make it as close to self sustaining as possible. Let's hope he can do it

Central funding wasn't 1.6 million per club last year nor the year in question

How much was it then?

I'm sure a guy who has his business interests also has an accountant who can make a 5 million loss into an interesting deduction on his tax return.

This year that ends with Decembers payment was 1.26 million. Off the top of my head I can't remember what last years was, but it would have been slightly lower then this