HULL KR chief executive Paul Lakin believes that the special measures imposed on Salford Red Devils by the RFL should have been “stronger”.
The future of the Red Devils now appears complete, with the takeover of the club by a consortium led by businessman Dario Berta, CEO of Matanel, an investment bank that specialises in real estate investment.
But, it’s been a long and treacherous road for the Salford club, from receiving an advance of their central distribution funding to being ordered into a ‘firesale’ by the RFL.
Having been placed into special measures by the governing body in November, the Red Devils were also ordered to slash their budget by £800,000 and were given a salary cap constraint of just £1.2m.
However, Lakin believes that the issue was “concerning” and that more should have been done by the RFL to ensure the issue didn’t go as far as it did.
“It is concerning in terms of the depths of the situation it got to and I say that on the behalf of the sport,” Lakin told BBC Radio Humberside.
“We are a week away from starting the season, it’s not good. They were on special measures at one point but those special measures should be stronger because they shouldn’t have got to the point that they did.
“We need a strong 12 teams, that’s good for the sport.”
Chris Irwin, former Chief Commercial Officer at Salford Red Devils and more recently Exeter City Football Club, has also been appointed as the Red Devils’ new Chief Executive Officer.
