THE checks carried out on the last owners of Salford Red Devils were “pretty good”, interim RFL chief executive Abi Ekoku has insisted.
Salford were wound up last week by the High Court following longstanding financial issues.
They were taken over in February by a consortium fronted by Swiss businessman Dario Berta but with the chief influence of Sire Kailahi and Curtiz Brown.
Promised funding never materialised, meaning debts grew from around £3 million to £5 million as loans were used to cover operating costs.
The RFL have come under scrutiny for approving the takeover inside two weeks, but Ekoku insisted the right process was followed.
However, he added lessons had been learned, with extra financial scrutiny to be placed on groups bidding to form a Salford phoenix club, following the model used to choose two additional teams for an expanded Super League next year.
“I’ve seen the due diligence carried out by the RFL and it was pretty good,” said Ekoku.
“Yes, we’ll add another tier this time around because we’re looking at financial sustainability, but really it met what you’d call fit and proper standards.
“I think possibly when the owners got in, they hadn’t done their due diligence in the way they should, and they found a level of debt that was greater than they anticipated. It began to unravel then.
“As a governing body at that stage, there isn’t a great deal you can do. You can’t step in and shadow direct an organisation.
“The club had promises of finance coming through and there was documentation to support that.”
There are three groups in the running to establish a new Salford club, who have until 5pm on Thursday to make their full submissions to the governing body before a decision on the club’s RFL membership is made next Wednesday (December 17).
One is a consortium involving Chris Irwin, the former chief executive of the wound-up club who has yet to confirm his partners.
Another is fronted by ex-player Mason Caton-Brown, backed by Malcolm Crompton, former chairman of the Forever Reds Supporters Trust, businessman Paul Hancock and local technology entrepreneur Ashley Washington.
The third is believed to be led by Tracy Atiga but has not been launched publicly.
“It’s not often you get three different parties interested in a rugby league club at the same time,” said Ekoku.
“All the core foundations are there, with a stadium and fantastic civic buy-in.”