Salford Red Devils have been ordered to “sell the players without delay” after being slapped with a £1.2m sustainability limit by the Rugby Football League.
The Super League club finished fourth in the table last season before losing to eventual champions Wigan Warriors in the play-offs and progressed to the semi-finals in 2022 before suffering defeat to St Helens – again a side that would lift the trophy .
Salford were also in the 2019 grand final, losing to St Helens at Old Trafford, but revealed on Wednesday that their squad will be broken up after being told by the RFL to reduce the club's salary cap.
“The club has been ordered to sell the players without delay,” the club said in a statement titled “the truth behind the rumours”.
“The position is that the RFL has issued a £1.2m sustainability cap and until we reach that we are now banned from registering players for the upcoming season.
“The conditions for receiving the increase (Salford were given a central distribution advance of around £500,000) were for the club to be placed under 'special measures' requiring a reduction in overhead costs of £800,000.
“We have not been given a clear deadline to comply with the necessary reduction in expenditure, so the club has decided to maintain our position in the short term while negotiations with investors are ongoing.
“During that time the club has received offers for a number of players, none of whom have been available for sale to date.
“Negotiations with investors continued over the weekend as part of a lengthy, rigorous process to secure the takeover of the club.
“This is still live and we are working on an expedition, the details of which we cannot disclose due to a non-disclosure agreement.”
Such was the volume of traffic on Salford Red Devils' website after the statement was released, the club confirmed that the website had in fact crashed.
Salford also explained how cuts in local funding meant that a promised subsidy from Salford City Council last March never materialized – something the club still believed was coming when it allocated funding for recruitment and pre-season training.
“One negotiation with a developer fell through due to the investment risk of not having a confirmed position from the Council on when the purchase of the stadium would be finalized – an example of the delicate negotiating position we are in,” Salford added.
Salford have been ordered by the RFL to reduce their salary cap to £1.2m
“In March, Salford City Council proposed that the club could receive a subsidy control grant to support rugby league and the development of rugby in the city of Salford and Greater Manchester.
“In November, Salford City Council was informed that the Subsidy Control Grant was not available due to a lack of funding elsewhere, which led to the club already committing funds to recruit players and staff and pay for pre-season preparations, including warm weather in the camp Portugal.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The best is yet to come in the world of sport in 2025, live only on Sky Sports
“In fact, these intended funds had already been allocated.
“We believe that we have acted in the best interest of the club, players, staff and our fans, given the complex situation we are in with the multiple dynamics at play.
“We sympathize and understand the frustration of our fans and are deeply sorry that we have come to this position.
“Our focus remains on working to explore all possible avenues for the long-term stability and success of Salford Red Devils.
“The immediate next steps are to continue the potential takeover process to secure investment as soon as possible, while now simultaneously selling players to meet RL Commercial regulations.”
Salford travel to St Helens for the Super League season opener on February 15, live Sky Sports.
Super League 2025 – key dates and what to pay attention to
March 1: Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas
April 17-19: 8th round – Rivals Round
3-4. May: Magic Round (St James' Park, Newcastle)
July 24: August 31 – round 20 – split round over two weekends
September 4-7: Round 25 – Rivals Reverse round matches
September 18-21: Round 27 – last round of the regular season (date and time tbc)
September 26-27: Elimination playoffs
3-4. October: Semi-final
Saturday October 11: Grand Final (Old Trafford)
Sky Sports will once again show all Super League games live this season – including two games in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four games each week shown on Sky Sports+.