It can be done, though yes, it takes more than just buying in players, as you point out - the backroom setup is much more important.

Warrington are a good example of how a club can be brought through from half a century of obscurity to become genuine contenders for titles, and even then it took Moran a good few years to do it.

I agree with this. It took IL three years to achieve success (12 months ahead of expectation), bearing in mind Wigan already had a decent platform already in place (playing squad, academy structure coached by SW, a large catchment area of top class amateur clubs).

For Koukash to state 'we are going to have some fun next year' is just plain silly, unless he means against the likes of Wakey, Widnes, London & Cas!

Even with the players mentioned I can only see them becoming a team to rival Bradford/Catalans/Hull FC for playoff positions 7-8.

To be fair mate, as a Salford fan I'd accept challenging for the top 8 next season. If the wholesale changes are going to take place it will take the team a long time to gel. Maybe he meant fun as in not serving up embarrassing performances and taking beatings week in week out we are suffering this season. Personally I'd like to see us challenge for play offs next year with a good cup run. Year after, consolidate in the play offs again then announce ourselves as contenders the year after that with an assault on the top 5. Who knows where Salford will end up I just find it exciting that there will be more teams in the mix rather than just Wigan / Leeds / Saints / Warrington, hopefully with Hudds and now Hull emerging then Salford, we should start seeing differing teams winning the trophies at end of the season.

Bear in mind that Koukash has said he will deliberately break the salary cap in the press if they don't raise it.

Dr.Koukash and Mr.Lenegan seem to be at the opposite ends of opinion regarding the cap.

Now more than ever SL needs to be competitive, fans are not going to throw money around and accept 60+ point defeats. With the Rhinos winnning twice from 5th it makes the fans wonder if all the games are worthwhile. Increased competition willl make take SL and the national team up a level. I welcome a new improved Salford.

Well while the two beatings handed out to Salford by Wigan this year saw us score some nice tries overall they were boring matches. Little atmosphere and what also tends to happen when one side is way ahead of the other it becomes damage limitation for the poorer side which can result in negative play and even deliberate attempts to injure players as frustration sets in.

I go to every game wanting to see Wigan win and I am sure Wane aims for that each week as well but I think most people recognise it's no good for the sport if you only get a small number of really competitive games each season. So if Koukash can deliver some better quality players good for him - so long as they are not ours!

Not sure where this leaves Cas though if Chase is a Salford player next year. Is it confirmation that there really aren't enough good players to go around?

Do you think quality players from the "top four" will leave for Salford, if your answer to that is no do you then think there are players outside of those teams that Salford can buy and win a title with? I'm personally unsure.

They will think about it if he offers to double their salaries.
I've no doubt he'll bust the £1.8m salary cap in getting what he wants and good luck to him.
I'm sure he'll do it within the rules of the cap but circumventing it if your determined to do so and have the money will be very easy.
It would shake the rest up if in two or three years he declared he was spending £4m or so on players salaries, all within the SC rules.
Good Luck to the man!

If he continually spent £4 million a year on Salford, the club would soon end up like most of his business ventures, insolvent.

The Salary Cap would not stand up in a court of law. It only works because all clubs agreed to it.

If a club said it didn't agree with it because it is a restriction of trade and went to court it would win.

Let's see what happens with the Salford situation.

I think the Leeds chairman may need a change of pants!

We, Wigan, may not like it but we would cope. Warrington would probably be over the moon.

I'm pretty sure that clubs who can spend more than the cap are doing so already. Whether it's brown envelopes or getting their weekly shopping... All raising the salary cap will do is make these teams declare what they're already spending.

But it's not a business.

Many pro clubs in various sports are basically insolvent if it were not for unearned income. Whether that comes from TV rights or the back pocket of some wealthy benefactor doesn't really matter in the short term. Longer term the money could dry up from either source but sports clubs would be daft to spurn the use of cash on the table now as it's all about success now, not what might happen in the future.

If it were that easy we'd be seeing top Aussies signing for the likes of Wire if they are prepared to get around the cap as is suggested they are. Koukash would be able to bid for who he liked with enough money to temp them.

Koukash seemingly has deep pockets but I don't think other clubs including Wire and Wigan want to spend much more than they are. Wire may be able to offer the odd fringe benefit as it was rumoured they did for Ratchford but large amounts of extra cash? Not sure that is on the table.



I think the SL clubs and the RFL are stupid to not consider changes to the cap beyond the minor tweaking that has occurred recently. If they want a salary cap at all they need to keep people like Koukash on-side because if he just goes and breaks it and it end up in court that is the last place they want to be.

On what grounds would the SC 'stand up in a court of law'?

I don't think it would.