Calm down for a second before answering and consider one or two facts:

* even if we raise the £600,000 we're being told is needed, the club is still going to be saddled with crippling long-term debt.
* the club is still going to under the stewardship of the same group of people who, whatever their honest intentions, have got us into this mess.
* the club will still be bound to a set of crippling constraints negotiated by the current administration with the stadium management company.
* we'd be taking a massive leap of faith by believing that this new 'business plan' is going to be any better than any of the previous ones.
* by JW's own admission, we'd still have to be pulling in 8,000 paying punters in order to break even.
* even if we can achieve this unrealistic break even figure, we'd still be unable to spend anything like a full salary cap on players.
* without shrewd and tenacious renegotiation we'd still be second class citizens at the stadium (no club shop etc) and be hobbled by the aforementioned crippling t&cs negotiated previously.
* in short, we'd still be saddled with the same business model that has hitherto been completely unsustainable in Super League.


With all that in mind, if we (collectively) did have £600,000 hidden beneath our mattresses, would this money be best spent prolonging the existence of the business in its current incarnation? Or would these funds be better off invested in a more sustainable fan-owned model?

I think the question is not is the club worth saving, but who in there right mind would? It leaks money left right and centre and any businessman with half a brain wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. I fear for the worse. I just wish it would happen quickly and put us all out of our misery!!

I could not get to the meeting,some will say good.But from the the people I have spoken with who did attend and the
reports in the press,The chairman seemed to blame everybody but himself for the present situation,I am sorry to say
this but to give money to the present incumbents would be stupid,he praises FReds and I am a member,what must
the people think who are not with us and who he needs,to stand any chance to survive.what we need is fresh start
with someone who noes what to do,some would say the present incumbents have had the chance and look where we
are maybe doomed.

I'm with Stanley on this

I'm a strong believer in forgiveness but to actually try and bail Wilky on this one surely is a step to far, when are the fans of this club going to wake up. I also can't believe the crowd on Monday night actually gave him a rapturess applause for getting us in this position. The club needs to fold with administrators coming in and to investigate the dealings. Oooooh skeletons will appear everywhere. I hope FR aren't going to hand over funds willy nilly if so my money will be staying firmly in my pocket.

As far as I'm aware the board have agreed to waive their debts - I'm not sure how that counts as bailing them out, though I'm more than happy for you to correct me.



Again, my understanding is that the 'present incumbents' would be stepping aside and writing off debts, which seems to be exactly what you both claim to want. There's a chance, however slim, of actually creating the club you want here, but incessant banging on about the past is not the way of going about it.

Please name one person who JAW blamed apart from himself?He was disappointed with a couple of people but to my knowledge took the full responsibility for the clubs current position himself.

I think one or two posters are also overlooking two other fairly likely scenarios:

1) the supporters (not for the want of trying) won't be able to raise anything like £600k in the prescribed timescale.
2) there won't be a 'white knight' willing to 'invest' into our ever deepening black hole.

I can't fault the optimists and would love for them to be proven right here but my pragmatic nature tells me that we aren't going to end up with a fairy tale outcome here and at some point we're going to start thinking about Salford RLFC version 2.0.

]

I agree that we must not allow the CLUB'S history to be lost, but I'm less convinced that the best way to preserve the heritage of Salford RLFC is to prop up the current failing BUSINESS for another year (at best?)

My understanding is that if they were walking away from the debt they would simply write it off
They're not doing that,but converting it into share capital apparently and there'll be a reason for that.
I agree that there's no point in banging on at the past . The ovation for JW was thanking him for financing our club for 30 years.

I can't see anyway he's going to recover his losses so surely an agreement from the RFL for a new company to take over the Superleague licence and for (1914) Limited to be wound up is the cleanest way of dealing with this.
A new start.

But if it was that easy then somebody would have done it already.

One final thought. I've no idea what the compelling reason was for Peel to commit £750,000,but everybody knows it wasn't their love of Sport.
It has to have been a commercial necessity.
That reason must still exist,even if the amount has changed

BR - converting the debt to shares is effectively wiping it off, as it was agreed that the newco would acquire the shares for nothing!

And yes, you're right about Peel - if you sup with the devil use a long spoon!!!!!!!!!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding was that Peel/SCC's prime motivation was to try to protect the money they've already invested (including money already owed).

I can't see either party (or HMRC for that matter) being happy for a newco to take over the super league license with all existing liabilities wiped out. But, like everyone else, I'm merely speculating as even after Monday's meeting there's very little concrete information to hang your hat on.

3.0

Could it be in the club's best long term interests for the current business (and its debts, restrictive contractual liabilities and bad habits) to go into liquidation?

Could this pave the way for a refocused and reenergised newco club to regroup outside of Super League and away from Salford City Stadium?

With Super League's flawed licensing process seemingly in its death throes, there's no reason why in such a scenario we couldn't re-enter the top flight on more sustainable terms in 3-5 years time. With the way things are shaping up with Sale, we'd be in a very strong position to renegotiate much more favourable terms with the stadium management company next time around.

Do we need to take a step backward in order to hopefully move forwards?

Or would most fans prefer us to soldier on in Super League until the well runs dry?

I agree that the present administration should not be left in charge. We would be better starting afresh. However I believe that a step backwards from Superleague is the wrong way to go. If the precedent set by the rfl and other superleague clubs is anything to go by allowing the new Bulls to remain in after going into administration then we should be allowed to do the same assuming we can find an owner who will take us forward.
As for no investor being stupid enough to take on a business that haemorrhages money....is it not the case that it does so not because it is a bad product or bad business but rather it is one that has been badly run? Who is to say that the club can't flourish with management that has a modicum of business sense and marketing knowledge?