Salford Red Devils in crisis: Brian Carney and Jon Wilkin call out 'rank' silence of leaders after crisis period

Sky Sports Rugby League’s Brian Carney and Jon Wilkin have called for leaders to break their silence after the “rank” situation of Salford Red Devils’ takeover.

Salford have now lost all four games to start their 2025 season which started with an 82-0 drubbing from St Helens as they fielded their reserves.

Heading into their clash with Castleford it was touch and go whether the players would train in the build-up or indeed play with everyone at the club not receiving their pay.

However, they were granted a dispensation to name an almost full-strength squad despite being hit with another salary cap sanction this week and players were paid on the eve of their round four clash.

Despite convincing the RFL to allow them to replace a number of currently injured or suspended players with new ones under the dispensation including half-back Marc Sneyd and captain Kallum Watkins, Salford were on the end of another loss and stay rooted to the bottom of the Super League table.

For Sky Sports Rugby League’s Brian Carney, the “silence” from leaders across the sport has been deafening, with him calling out the lack of communication from all involved in the fiasco.

“Lots has been written and spoken about the Salford situation this week. The players, we believe, were paid late last night, which was strange timing,” Carney said.

“There’s been, in my opinion, a distinct lack of communication from the leadership of this game. I haven’t heard from any significant figure to explain to people what exactly is going on.

“So when the salary cap restrictions are re-imposed and dispensations are then offered to cover for suspended players, everybody else, including Martin Jepson for example, the Castleford Tigers joint-owner, is going: ‘what’s going on here?’

“I’m doing my best to try and follow this situation and I am really struggling.

“They’re delivered in silence. You cannot find me an interview, a significant interview, with a figure of note that has got a leadership role in this game.

“Has Tony Sutton (RFL CEO) spoken to anybody publicly? Has he addressed this issue with the fans that follow the game of not just Castleford and Salford but all the other clubs? There’s silence. Leaders stand up.”

Salford and the Rugby Football League have both been contacted for comment by Sky Sports.

For Jon Wilkin, it is a “rank” situation, with the blame lying at the door of Salford who “whittled away” money and required a last-ditch takeover to survive.

“I think there’s silence because it’s bad. Anybody could do it in the good times. You’re describing a certain style of leadership,” added Wilkin..

“I just think the full situation is rank. All of it’s rank.

“We can talk about how it’s communicated. We’ve had a club that’s just whittled away, spent money, not been able to afford it for a long time. The fault lies with them. The communication of that we can talk about.

“We’re speaking and waxing lyrical about growth and ambition and opportunity. And then it’s: ‘by the way, Salford haven’t got any cash to pay the players.’ And no one wants to see it.”

Rowley: We had each other’s backs through adversity

While it is tough going for Salford at the moment, head coach Paul Rowley praised his players for “coming together” through the adversity as they gave 100 per cent effort despite all the distraction.

“We asked them to battle hard and work hard which you would say are givens in this sport but we’ve obviously had some distractions and not practised,” said Rowley.

“I was very proud and grateful that the players came together, and while it wasn’t polished, I thought they tried to cover each other’s backs and find a way through hard work.

“The tries we conceded were rubbish really from our point of view. We’ve had a lot of adversity throughout the game as well as the week, so I can’t ask any more of them on the effort front.”

Salford’s problems are far from over – with the club’s backroom staff still not paid – and frustrated rival bosses having requested clarity from the Rugby Football League over the source of Thursday’s payment to the Salford squad.

The club’s ongoing salary cap sanction will leave Rowley little room for manoeuvre ahead of next week’s Challenge Cup clash with Bradford, but he added: “We’re taking it one day at a time, as we have been doing for the last few months.

“It’s been a difficult period but other clubs have been through it. We’re appreciative of the support from other people around different clubs and I’d like to think this experience will serve us well when other people might enter into difficulties in the future.”

Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+.