I do think you have to take these signings with a pinch of media salt.

The Good Dr. may very well know that he can't sign these 2, but saying he wants to gets him exactly what he does want, which is media and air time to sell more season tickets.

I have no idea what the good Dr is like as a person, but he has enough nonce in his head to know how to work the media.

In a way I have more respect for the guy if he is using it as a ploy for coverage and interest.

He has spent no more than a decent hotel bill to get in the same room as some of the biggest names in RL. It's cost a few hundred for what would be £1000's of media coverage if he were to buy it.

As Salford grow (hopefully) then this kind of stunt will be needed less and less. I think the outside concern is that if he was being serious and signed all the players Salford have been linked with in the last 12 months. Salford would be left in the same position he found them with debts mounting up to the skies.

Probably most of the people covering this story are not aware of the SL salary cap and that SBW and Billy Slater alone would take nearly the full cap of a club in SL.

In football there is only United, Arsenal and possibly still Liverpool that are true sustainable businesses, City, Chelsea and probably most of the rest are essentially charities, it is that change from charity to true busines that is the difficult bit

The simple fact is that Dr Koukash will clearly never know a fraction of what it takes to run a successful club as the majority of posters to these forums do. The sooner he learns this & scuttles away from our cash-rich sport the better.

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about...

I'm loving the ride and I don't wanna get off !!!!!!

You are aware that they have won the Champions League and Uefa Cup over the last two years aren't you?

Here is their recent record
2005 1st in League, League Cup winner
2006 1st in League
2007 2nd in League, FA Cup winner, League Cup winner
2008 2nd in League
2009 3rd in League, FA Cup winner
2010 1st in League, FA Cup winner
2011 2nd in league
2012 6th in league, FA Cup winner, Champions League winner
2013 3rd in league, UEFA Cup winner

Not too shabby eh? Hardly a crisis if they have been winners or top 3 for nearly a decade.

And they have spent shed-loads of money on buying superstars whilst farming out their young players (30 loaned out this season) with the likes of Josh McEachrin and Romelu Lukaku unable to get a shot at the first team (despite both clearly being good enough) whereas they throw ridiculous amounts of money at a superstar in his final years of playing the game to lead their line up front. Incidentally McEachrin is the only English player who would merit first team status as all their star reserves are foreign players.

You should not use footy teams for your argument unless you are sure they merit the comparison.

Was just about to flag up the fact that Chelsea [istruggled[/i their way to the European Cup 18 months ago. Must have been horrendous for the fans. Hope Salford never endure such [istruggle[/i under Koukash after all the trophy laden years we've enjoyed recently.

I think Koukash has been a complete breath of fresh air and exactly what the game needs. I can't stand this warped general consensus in the game that you should come in, stick to the status quo ante and hope that in ten years you have developed a few decent home grown players.

In any other industry if someone comes in to save a failing business you expect them to make sweeping changes and fast. Yet in RL we still have this WMC attitude and simply for showing ambition and passion Koukash has received criticism from all angles. He may come out with the odd mad line but at the end of the day he is evidently an intelligent man, he knows how to get his name in the papers, very important when you have two of the biggest clubs in world soccer on your door step.

Personally I am excited to see how Salford get on this year, it has been a while since I have said that about any club.

Fine miss my point completely, and let's argue about football.

Given the money Chelsea have spent, they should be far more dominant then they have been. That's why the Benitez, di Matteo, villa boas, and ancelotti got sacked.

A) First thing he did was buy the 'Most Successful ' coach in the game. Brian Noble

B) Second thing he did was buy the best trainer and support staff in the game -
Richard Hunwicks ( Head of Strength & Conditioning & Applied Sports Science at Salford Red Devils & England Knights,UKSCA Tutor, formerly with Leeds Rhinos, Wales RL & EIS) Rob Artingstall ( senior physiotherapist at Sale Sharks. consultant physiotherapist to Red Bull Extreme Racing & Mcr Spire Hospital ) Andy Hay ( Cas & Hull assistant ) Stuart Donlan

C)Third thing he did was strike a deal for the use of top class training facilities. -
Brand New Gym, Players Lounge & training faciliites just installed in the close season , Australia Trained there in the week leading up to the RLWC Final ..Showed SBW around the stadium last Sunday .


He must have talked to Nathan Tinkler then ?

Villas Boas got sacked because he p!$$ed off Lampard and Terry and they are the main men at that club.

Ancellotti left the club after winning the double and they really wanted to keep him but he had his eyes set on Madrid

Benitez was an interim appointment until the end of that season and he won the Euro league

Di Matteo got sacked after a run of games that resemble Chelsea's current season total. Don't forget he managed them to the champions league about three months before he was ousted.

Grant got sacked because he finished second place in the league.

Mourinho got sacked the first time around with results that resemble the current total.

The above is down to a meglomaniac chairman having a win everything at all costs mentality. Absolutely nothing to do with spending billions, just a mad russian with an itchy trigger finger, so to speak.

Again, if you are going to use a footy club as an analogy please try and get your facts right. And there is no need to huff when you are proven wrong.

Salary cap

Magic beetle, forgot to mention that several other clubs spent large (Man Utd, Man City, Spurs, Arsenal and Everton to a lesser extent) so surely all of these should have dominated.

Or Madrid should have won everything every year due to the ridiculous amount of money they spent?

Money doesn't buy success, but it can help.

Starbug hits the nail on the head with Salary Cap.

Get over it. It will be nice to have a different team trying to mix it with the establishment for once. Hopefully I can finally go to Wembley to watch Salford rather than GB/Eng/Any team that makes the CC Final.

It is easier to buy success in RL than football, in football the quality player pool is vast with quality players from all over the world available ( meaning everybody else can also buy the best ) also the ability to ' blend ' is more important, whereas in RL if you have the best players you will be the best

However the salary cap should prevent that from happening

Bring it on, I do hope Mr Koucash is able to build the club as well as the team