Premiership club Salford Red Devils have been issued a reduced sustainability cap and ordered to sell players by the Rugby Football League.
Uncertainty over the Red Devils' future at Salford Community Stadium has led to doubts over commercial revenue collection and left gaps in their finances.
Salford said they had maintained a level of silence in recent months “due to the sensitive nature of ongoing discussions with potential investors.”
“It was our discretion to maintain and ensure the integrity of those discussions, adhere to non-disclosure agreements, and protect our club, players and staff,” Salford said.
“In the current situation, and contrary to what has been reported, investor negotiations continued over the weekend as part of a long and rigorous process to secure the takeover of the club. This remains active and we are working to expedite – the details we disclose cannot be disclosed due to the agreement Non-disclosure applicable.
“However, the club has been directed to sell players without delay; the position is that the EFL have issued a sustainability cap of £1.2m, and until we reach that, we are now prohibited from registering players for next season.”
The normal sustainability cap for Premier League clubs is £2.1m.
Salford received a financial lifeline in November when other Premier League clubs agreed to give them an advance of distribution funds for 2025.
Salford added: “The conditions for obtaining promotion were for the club to be placed under ‘special measures’ requiring a reduction in overhead costs of £800,000.”
“We were not given a clear timeline for complying with the required expense reductions, so the club took the decision to hold our position in the short term while investor negotiations continued. During this time, the club received offers for a number of players, none of whom were available for sale to date.
“It is important to add that the progress funds were owned by RL Commercial and the payments were managed directly from them – the club was never given the funds to manage them directly.”
Salford City Council approved the deal to buy the stadium which the Red Devils share with rugby union club Sale Sharks in September.
The Red Devils said they were unable to contact the board over the “holiday period” to secure a meeting and “to confirm next steps in order to maximize the club's revenue opportunities”.
Salford said: “Prior to the takeover, an investor negotiation broke down due to the investment risk of the council not having any firm position on when the stadium acquisition would be completed; an example of the delicate negotiating position we find ourselves in.”
The Premiership club, who reached the grand final in 2019, also said Salford City Council had failed to deliver the support monitoring grant that was initially proposed in March 2024.
“The club was notified in July 2024 of the delay, and again in September 2024 with a further postponement until November 2024, again impacting the financial outlook,” Salford said.
“In November 2024, Salford City Council advised that a support monitoring grant was not available due to a lack of funding elsewhere, the effect of which was that the club had already allocated funds to recruit players and staff and pay for pre-season preparations including warm-up for the season.” – Weather camp in Portugal, these projected funds have already been allocated.
The Red Devils are scheduled to begin their 2025 Premier League campaign at St Helens on February 15.
