I went to the meeting last night and took a lot of notes and have been thinking through the situation and what options there might be.

Some things to consider please, if you take the time to read this post - I am neither for for against John Wilkinson - the simple truths are possible to find the cash to stave off the winding up order and indeed to get to the £600,000 - you just need 600 individuals, groups or businesses to contribute £1,000 each. How likely is it that such a number could be found in the required time-scale and willing to contribute to what might still be a lost cause if the current business plan is not viable?
3: Can we as fans put together a structure within say Forever Reds with enough expertise and experience to administer such sums (taking on board the suggestion from JW that Forever Reds is the obvious vehicle to use) in the time available and would that affect the constitution of Forever Reds as a charitable trust?

A possible way forward (assuming there is enough agreement to want to go forward)

1: Forever Reds to convene a meeting of interested parties to thrash out setting up some administration and organising the fund raising
2: The club confirm what level of resources they will commit to those activities
3: We get on and JFDI !!

Finally can I again ask the Salford fans to stop fighting and point scoring amongst ourselves - if we want to watch Salford in Super League (or possibly at all!) next season we need a common purpose.

Excellent post from a Balanced man.

I would be happy to join any prospective `Think Tank` should ever one be formed.

Steve McCormick`s post on Facebook shows there is much interest from the whole community both of Salford & the greater RFL.

I'm not sure now on the 8,000 - I don't think it was stated either way that it was still 8,000 in the "robust plan" or had been reduced so my assumption is that the plan remains at that level.
Yet more evidence why, if there is to be fans involvement we need to get moving and actually understand the situation fully.

Re FR status - thanks for the clarification Iain, I'm no lawyer so I don't understand the significance, but my question remains - would FR be in a position to assist in the way I've suggested?

I agree, Now should be the time the supporters attempt to put its own plan of action in place to help if possible to save the club.

I don't think he did.



I believe advice is being sought on that today.

Without trying to sound smug I posted on here at the begining of the clubs tunure at barton that your then Cheif Exec had clearly stated that 8000 fans was the breakeven figure required at Barton, only to be shot down by many on here as this being incorrect. sadly from your clubs point of view it wasn't and has contributed to the sad mess your club is currently in.
I, as stated by another Lions fan sincerely hope you get a solution which keeps Salford playing Rugby League. The loss of any club is a disaster to Rugby league especially with the current strength of Rugby Union.(albeit not in Sale's case).
At long last it seems that some of your support is now getting a march on to start fund raising via a trust vehicle and I hope you are sucessful in raising the 600K needed.

No, the difference was two stances were trotted out by people at the club: one, that 8,000 was the break-even figure and two, that 8,000 was to achieve maximum salary cap spend with the break-even figure being quite lower. That Salford could not coordinate it's communication was the fact.

In a nutshell, probably.

We can fairly easily account for money in, and have safe constitutional structures for holding it, and can keep it separate for a specific fund (that could be returned if not needed) - though we need to find out more on the implications of a significantly increased turnover from a tax and audit perspective (I'm speaking to Supporters Direct about this). From an IPS laws perspective, it does ultimately depend on where the money goes and for what purpose.

I would imagine SD will mention this but I would also be sure to give the bank a call to explain why there might be more cash flowing through the bank accounts.

It does seem like the situation is almost the same as we were in two years ago, and so it may be that you have a low before the high. Although the directors' loan being cashed in for free is a burden off any investor, the 2m debt owed to the council and bank isn't, along with the other creditors. I can only imagine that any business plan is much better without those hanging around and so is less reliant on high attendances. This would allow the club to service the squad rather than the debts.

In a nutshell, therefore, I wonder whether investors will do what they did with us and wait for administration and then step in with a bargain basement offer. There were rumours of more than one interested party waiting for administration with us, and the reason suggested for one pulling out was because the lack of any assurances over Super League survival.

It will get bumpy before its gets smooth but I hope it works out. One of the biggest mistakes we would have made as fans was try to prop up the club, and look at the Bulls fans who threw good money away last year. If I was an investor, I would wait for administration, because with those debts, you are probably investing in a plate-spinning exercising until you succumb yourself. So it might get bad before its gets better, but maybe that better is lot healthier in the long term than what seems like an immediate rescue.

Re. the 8k crowds, going off my memory and the notes I made last night, I certainly do think that the business plan depends on 8,000 people turning up each week. He said at one point "we have a viable business plan if we get 8,000 crowds." I think that started off one of the "shouty" bits from the floor.

Bit of a catch 22 with the 8k numbers.

For Salford to even get close to those numbers they need to be a top 6 side. Without significant investment into the playing squad they can't achieve this. As it stands, the team will not be successful enough to bring in more regulars and draw a bigger awway support. I think all the marketing in the world matters little when you're trying to market a turd. The only way you can build with successful marketing is with successful results on the pitch.

I just can't see any way we could touch the top 6 as the team stands. If we manage to start the season. Barring a coaching miracle from PV and SL of Hollywood proportions it's just not going to happen.

My worry is that so many fans have had their fingers burnt by the Club that it might be difficult to even sustain half that number.