HUNDREDS of Salford Red Devils supporters have turned out at the Salford Community Stadium to protest against the club’s ownership.
While Sunday afternoon’s Super League match with Wakefield Trinity was cancelled, a planned protest still went ahead.
Fans gathered at the Salford City Roosters clubhouse before marching more than a mile towards the stadium, where chants included: “We want our Salford back.”
The protest was organised by supporters group The 1873 in an attempt to highlight the club’s current plight.
Salford cited “significant concerns regarding player welfare” for cancelling the Wakefield match.
They took a squad featuring ten loanees to Hull FC for an 80-6 defeat the previous weekend, having lost 15 first-team players since the beginning of the season.
The Red Devils have failed to pay players and staff on time on multiple occasions since a takeover of the club by a consortium in February and are relying on external funding from a business finance firm.
A winding-up petition brought by HMRC over an unpaid tax bill of more than £600,000 is due to be heard on September 3.
In a statement at the beginning of the week, the owners said they were tackling more than £3 million in inherited debt but insisted the club “will not close”.
The club made national headlines on Thursday when chief operating officer Claire Bradbury quit and alleged that the ownership had suggested she “sleep with an individual at the RFL” to “smooth over” the club’s predicament.
Salford have vowed to conduct a “thorough internal investigation” into the claims.