Surely if a current player openly admits that he conspired to break the rules and accepted alleged extra payments through a third party company, then he would also face some sort of disciplinary from the governing body i.e Hock and Chase.

2014 was the year the Bulls got relegated. If Salford are found guilty of cheating to avoid relegation then this caused serious ramifications for Bradford. I'm sure many will be interested how the RFL handle this one.

I can see how the Bradford board will be circling like vultures over the outcome of the hearing. Not that I blame them.

Its only fair then that the points are deducted from the 2014 season points, if we have say 6 points deducted we finish on 17 points. Still 7 ahead of Bradford.

No date has been set for the hearing yet you already know Salford are getting 6 points deducted?

If it is a 6 point deduction then any club can go out and spend what they like as 6 points is easily recovered when you have a team of superstars.

The thing is though if we got anymore then 4 it's a scandal as other clubs have broke the cap and got 2/4 maximum so why we any different.

It is a scandal when arbitrary punishments are made up. Like, for instance, confiscating the whole of the TV money of a club in administration as punishment for being being in administration. And then deciding to share it out to clubs who go on to spend it against the rules of the competition to stay in that competition. Good luck finding someone who'll give a flying one about what's scandalous and what isn't.

This isn't a minor breach. This is a systemic flouting of the rules for years. Are we punishing for one breach? Are we punishing for all of them? Are we punishing all seasons breaches together? Or are we going to stretch it out over as many years as Salford have been pursuing every avenue to break the operating rules of the competition?

Two points my .

They cannot touch the points of the 2014 season without potentially changing the complete SL table; I can see legal challenges. Mind you removing the memory of the 0-38 Saints and 18-32 / 20-30 Widnes results would be nice.

We are in guessland: all we can do is commit to supporting our club as Bulls and Oldham fans have done. But do not expect mercy or support from other fans.

Not really.
Firstly, the breaches by other clubs were never, ever so blatantly deceitful as is being alledged at Salford. Previous breaches have mostly been a result of a misjudgement in terms of bonus payments or some other genuine error which the club has admitted and accepted.
In Salford's case, they seem to have created a company for the purposes of making secret payments to players intended to be hidden from the RFL and therefore circumvent the salary cap. If true, it's devious, underhand and is ultimately cheating all other clubs and the game as a whole.

If Salford are found guilty then it isn't just an administration error. Koukash has publicly shown his disdain for the salary cap so if it is proven that he has blatantly flouted the rule for his own benefit then the club should be dealt with accordingly. Same goes for Derek "I will break the cap" Beaumont at Leigh.

like I said, that's what I heard last night at the game. obviously that may not be correct, but I would suggest that's a reasonable amount if found guilty given past deductions

See Nottinghamtigers post above.

Bradford once received a points deduction for breaking the cap. They spent between 52% to 55% of the allowed 50% cap. They pleaded guilty and didn't contest the decision. The reason they went above the cap was because Shontayne Hape picked up a season ending injury while playing for New Zealand. As I recall, the Bulls signed a replacement for Hape believing that they would receive compensation from New Zealands player insurance. This never happened and ultimately sent the Bulls above the cap. If this is deemed the same as setting up a fake company to pay players more than they stated on their salary cap allowance to deliberately deceive the RFL then I am truly at a loss.

And more to the point, if I was a Salford fan I would be directing my anger at the absolute tool who has put the club in this position. His constant criticism of the RFL and his public announcement that he will break the cap will, I have no doubt, now come back to haunt him.

If this is true, not only has he been cheating the other clubs and the game as a whole, but more importantly your very own fans who pay their hard earned money to watch the team. Koukash has been willing to take all their money despite knowing that one day any achievements by the team could be as worthless as Lance Armstrong's cycling medals. He may well have rescued the club, but he has then lied and betrayed the very same supporters who hailed him as a saviour.

I feel sorry for Salford fans if this is true, I'm sure most of them want to watch a successful team but not at the expense of having any success tarnished by dishonesty and deliberate cheating.

There is nothing in the rules to say that a 3rd party company cannot pay a player. The rules only state that the club must report all such payments as part of their salary cap submission. There are no rules related to the individual player for them to break - apart from the usual HMRC obligations.

The player would just say that he assumed the club was including the payments as part of their salary cap submission, as the club is supposed to do.