Quote: jaybs "I'm also not totally convinced with the good Dr! he has no grounding in the game, it was only from his young son watching St Helens, it was rumoured locally that he tried to invest in Saints, but nothing as we know came of it. Then he wanted to take over the two Oldham clubs football and RL, discussions did not go as fast as he wanted so he is now looking at Swinton? and he is still not happy that he just can't spend whatever he wanted to bring success, Koukash wants to develop the ground around the ground with sports bars and a casino, to try and attract the major businessmen who may also then take boxes. At one time when Snape was owner Friday night's were Top at The Weaste, he did it with big money signings. I really hope that Dr Koukash does give it time, he has named one of his horses after Noble and they both goes to races together, but very successful businessman do not like not being at the Top of the Game. We need more like him, but can we allow those with money to buy success over the rest? is that going backwards?'"
Marwan Koukash’s young son is infact two years old. What really happened was Eamon McManus invited him as a guest to St Helens a couple of occasions, Koukash fell in love with the sport and said he would like to get involved if the opportunity arose at St Helens as it was his local team. On an unrelated business trip to Dubai, he (fortunately for us) sat next to Nigel Wood who mentioned Salford City Reds and the rest is history. With regards to Oldham FC and RLFC, he was dealing with two different owners with two very different agendas. Since his interest in those clubs Swinton have found themselves in serious financial troubles and as they are within the city of Salford I think Marwan would favour investing in the Lions and reinvigorating rugby league in Salford as a whole.
He’s not happy that he cannot spend what he wants because he can see the game is not only stagnating but also going backwards. Not only can we not now attract top quality imports, we can’t even retain our best and half decent talent. As a result, the NRL and Australian game in general is improving and getting stronger where as the Super League is weakening by the year. Koukash has named a horse after Brian Noble, Rangi Chase, Adrian Morley and soon Martin Gleeson too.
As someone who has been part of Koukash’s 11 months reign thus far, the sport needs many more men like him. He isn’t a flash in the pan, the man is passionate about the sport and will openly admit he has fell in love with all thing Salford RLFC and rugby league. I have no doubts the man will deliver when he promises trophies at Salford, look at what he has done thus far? Whilst our team for 2014 isnt good enough to win the league, it is a damn site better than what we had this season and if we can continue with that kind of gradual progression we’ll be challenging the top 4 in no time.
