Salford financial issues(again…)

[dboy]

9 minutes ago, Dave T said:

 

Does the RFL have the authority (and money) to advance funds without any kind of governance?

Great question.

Simon Johnson will be answering that at next week's meeting, convened at Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue ground.

What are your thoughts Dave?

[Dave T]

11 minutes ago, dboy said:

Great question.

Simon Johnson will be answering that at next week's meeting, convened at Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue ground.

What are your thoughts Dave?

I don't think they do, wasn't it mentioned that RLCom paid the last lot?

And if they have, I think they've been foolish. This has gone past that stage imo.

[dboy]

End game shortly.

[RP London]

11 hours ago, Worzel said:

The AML regs are relatively simple, as long as you are able to demonstrate the source of funds. Whether £50k or £5m, it would not ordinarily take this long to process. Hours and days is more normal. Clearly at least one of the investors has found it harder to prove what is needed..! 🫨

Banks are criminally liable if they don't enforce AML laws - and individuals in the banks can be prosecuted. 

Aml regs don't take anywhere near that long... Couple of days is it . Hiding behind AML is like people who hide behind GDPR because it's just a bit awkward or they can't be arsed to explain the actual rules that stop you accessing data.. AML is scary due to the punishments but really bloody easy if you look at it with a "wise" head..

Utter bullpoo and call them on it

[FearTheVee]

Very surprised that the takeover by the investment banker from the world’s only investment bank with no website, subsequently substituted by a Tongan rapper, is hitting the skids.

Not sure anybody could have foreseen this wasn’t credible.

[DoubleD]

9 hours ago, dboy said:

Latest rumour is that SRD will be be brought "in house", to ensure they finish the season.

Takeover has fallen through - no funds - tried to leverage the land for loans before they even owned it.

This sounds too far-fetched, even for me, but there you go.

Insider who told me RFL paid wages seems to be right - is he/she right this time???

This sadly sounds very plausible. Where this leaves the Red Devils and the council remains to be seen. 

Perhaps the NRL swooping in will help save the day

[The Future is League]

10 hours ago, dboy said:

Latest rumour is that SRD will be be brought "in house", to ensure they finish the season.

Takeover has fallen through - no funds - tried to leverage the land for loans before they even owned it.

This sounds too far-fetched, even for me, but there you go.

Insider who told me RFL paid wages seems to be right - is he/she right this time???

Surely the RFL didn't pay the wages otherwise they will be accused of having double standards as as far as i know as they didn't pay the wages that the TWP owed their players

[The Future is League]

1 hour ago, DoubleD said:

This sadly sounds very plausible. Where this leaves the Red Devils and the council remains to be seen. 

Perhaps the NRL swooping in will help save the day

Nobody is going to buy the Red Devils, and i would say you couldn't give them away at the moment and I'd go even further and say you would have to pay somebody to take them on.

[Tommygilf]

10 hours ago, dboy said:

Takeover has fallen through - no funds - tried to leverage the land for loans before they even owned it.

This sounds too far-fetched, even for me, but there you go

Sounds similar to the Glazers method of purchase of Manchester United!

Ultimately they don't appear to have the money they are talking about. And if they do, it doesn't seem to be entirely clear how they have attained it.

[The Future is League]

9 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

Very surprised that the takeover by the investment banker from the world’s only investment bank with no website, subsequently substituted by a Tongan rapper, is hitting the skids.

Not sure anybody could have foreseen this wasn’t credible.

To say that the Red Devils future is filipendulous is an understatement.

[Worzel]

10 hours ago, RP London said:

Aml regs don't take anywhere near that long... Couple of days is it . Hiding behind AML is like people who hide behind GDPR because it's just a bit awkward or they can't be arsed to explain the actual rules that stop you accessing data.. AML is scary due to the punishments but really bloody easy if you look at it with a "wise" head..

Utter bullpoo and call them on it

This ^^ 

We moved £500k last week to the US, didn’t take 48 hours. They either weren’t competent, or set off some red flags! 

[Wakey Til I Die]

10 hours ago, RP London said:

Aml regs don't take anywhere near that long... Couple of days is it . Hiding behind AML is like people who hide behind GDPR because it's just a bit awkward or they can't be arsed to explain the actual rules that stop you accessing data.. AML is scary due to the punishments but really bloody easy if you look at it with a "wise" head..

Utter bullpoo and call them on it

Talking to my friend yesterday who works in this very field this is correct. When coming from different countries it can take longer than when from just one country but not this long.

The caveat to that is that if ‘problems’ with that money are found then lengthy hold ups and even blocks are likely…..

[Dave T]

This is a very important point in the latest statement:

"With respect to the takeover, the complexity of the acquisition of the Club with the Stadium has led to a more protracted process. Concurrently, we have had unexpected delays with the banking regulatory clearance required for international transactions of this size. The impact of this has meant the Club haven’t been able to move forward with plans as I’d previously suggested."

 

The bit in bold Is now front and centre. Now hopefully this just means there are negotiations on rights and land ownership etc. but it has been raised on here regarding the Community ownership for example as an issue. The banking transfer was secondary in the above.

[RP London]

1 hour ago, The Future is League said:

Surely the RFL didn't pay the wages otherwise they will be accused of having double standards as as far as i know as they didn't pay the wages that the TWP owed their players

Rfl having double standards??? I'm shocked... 

Supporting heartlands teams but not expansion teams... Shocked again!! 

But we all know they don't help heartland teams nearly as much as expansion don't we?

[Tommygilf]

The complexity of purchasing a fan owned club seems to have been completely underestimated.

That said, I'd have thought simply moving money into the clubs accounts for cash flow purposes wouldn't be a major issue if the takeover is proceeding as expected.

That leads me to be inclined to believe the suggestion that funds to buy the club are tied up in wider borrowing for the land.

[RP London]

38 minutes ago, Wakey Til I Die said:

Talking to my friend yesterday who works in this very field this is correct. When coming from different countries it can take longer than when from just one country but not this long.

The caveat to that is that if ‘problems’ with that money are found then lengthy hold ups and even blocks are likely…..

I was an AML officer for a major financial institution so I can assure you what I said isn't just conjecture. 

As you say the only thing that holds up AML stuff are problems.. for it to be held up this long is alarm bells ringing quite loud.. 

Edited March 8 by RP London

[RP London]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

The complexity of purchasing a fan owned club seems to have been completely underestimated.

That said, I'd have thought simply moving money into the clubs accounts for cash flow purposes wouldn't be a major issue if the takeover is proceeding as expected.

That leads me to be inclined to believe the suggestion that funds to buy the club are tied up in wider borrowing for the land.

My guess is the legals are really tough but AML is an easy smoke screen or they're having major second thoughts. Maybe thinking they can do the same in a few weeks for a lot less money

[Toby Chopra]

6 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

The complexity of purchasing a fan owned club seems to have been completely underestimated.

That said, I'd have thought simply moving money into the clubs accounts for cash flow purposes wouldn't be a major issue if the takeover is proceeding as expected.

That leads me to be inclined to believe the suggestion that funds to buy the club are tied up in wider borrowing for the land.

TBH I didn't realise they were buying the stadium and land as part of the deal for the club, I thought buying the club was a sweetener for a future land deal with the council.

If it's all in one go, and it's going to be a leveraged deal, and they have to buy out multiple parties including the Community Society association, then that all gets more complicated and expensive. 

I still feel like it's a real thing, rather than a scam, but these things came still fail if you haven't the expertise to pilot it through.

Blaming the complexity of the deal doesn't bode well.

[Tommygilf]

8 minutes ago, RP London said:

My guess is the legals are really tough but AML is an easy smoke screen or they're having major second thoughts. Maybe thinking they can do the same in a few weeks for a lot less money

As I said I'm inclined to think they don't actually have the money to hand, or at least a lot of it, and the Swiss guy is fronting a group who have been encouraged to apply for leveraged finances to invest in a development opportunity.

Unfortunately that means for the RL club that it's the Bank that is the source of funds, and they will not release those funds till everything is agreed.

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

TBH I didn't realise they were buying the stadium and land as part of the deal for the club, I thought buying the club was a sweetener for a future land deal with the council.

If it's all in one go, and it's going to be a leveraged deal, and they have to buy out multiple parties including the Community Society association, then that all gets more complicated and expensive. 

I still feel like it's a real thing, rather than a scam, but these things came still fail if you haven't the expertise to pilot it through.

Blaming the complexity of the deal doesn't bode well.

Yeah I thought that too but this strikes me as a major flaw, it would seem that there isn't the cash there for the RL club without any leveraged finance. That then is complicated by the CSA too. 

It all seems very ad hoc. The club are left in an embarrassing mess, or perhaps as an afterthought.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I suspect we are viewing this from an entirely different perspective from any purchasers of whatever is being sold. It looks very much as if the purchase is not being made by a Danson figure - a home town boy with deep pockets who loves his team. 

Assuming that, then SRD would be part of a much bigger deal, involving valuable land, plus by the sound of it the stadium and the club. If that is financed, then the lenders won’t care what happens to SRD, as it would be a drain on their bottom line. And what we are seeing now is consistent with that: they are at best an afterthought and at worst a liability to be got rid of. Good luck with drafting the contract which ensures that SRD are not only bought but also sustained and supported on the likely very long road to break even. 
 

And all this after SRD had been awarded a licence after an exhaustive evaluation process…

[ricky]

A man marries a woman for her looks; how much effort is he going to put into helping her look after her crippled old mother?

[preid]

In all this the big losers have been Toulouse. They were/are just 0.39 points behind Salford on IMG ratings and could have easily stepped in with 6 to 8 weeks notice before the season started. Their already full-time squad would have been augmented by receiving the Sky money. Logically they could have used that to cherry-pick Salford players and the rest of the Salford squad would have gone elsewhere. If the above had occurred TO would at least have been as competitive as Castleford and probably Huddersfield too. They would be streets ahead of Salford as a prospect going forward too. Shame on Salford. Shame on the RFL. The damage being done is monumental.

[The Future is League]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

I suspect we are viewing this from an entirely different perspective from any purchasers of whatever is being sold. It looks very much as if the purchase is not being made by a Danson figure - a home town boy with deep pockets who loves his team. 

Assuming that, then SRD would be part of a much bigger deal, involving valuable land, plus by the sound of it the stadium and the club. If that is financed, then the lenders won’t care what happens to SRD, as it would be a drain on their bottom line. And what we are seeing now is consistent with that: they are at best an afterthought and at worst a liability to be got rid of. Good luck with drafting the contract which ensures that SRD are not only bought but also sustained and supported on the likely very long road to break even. 
 

And all this after SRD had been awarded a licence after an exhaustive evaluation process…

What does that tell us about the exhaustive evaluation process?

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]