Salford CEO Ian Blease has explained the club’s decision to pay staff in full during April.
The Red Devils, despite their well-known financial limitations, are one of just three Super League clubs that will pay their workforce in full during April.
As Blease explains, after careful consideration the club decided to make the call to provide its employees with some financial assurance during uncertain times.
“We’ve been running our operations quite slickly,” Blease told League Express.
“Our operating costs are smaller than others and we are not reliant on stadium income and other factors.
“The board made the decision to look after the players and staff and that includes everyone, which gives them another month to get their finances in order. It’s something we can look back on with pride when it ends. Sure, there are cuts after that, but that’s game-wide, but we’re giving our staff a bit of certainty in unusual times.”
Unlike other clubs, last year’s Grand Finalists have decided to hold off setting pay cuts through to June.
“We’re doing a month-on-month review. I think modern businesses review their cash flow regularly and with a crisis like this we need to take a long-term view. That’s the pragmatic way; we can’t even predict a month ahead, so we need to be flexible and react to whatever hurdles come our way. We’ll react to external changes and make our decisions accordingly.”
Blease also thanked Salford supporters for their efforts during the lockdown, with the club seeing an increase in lottery draw subscribers as well as the club’s squad builder.
“We’ve not had a lot of season ticket cancellations either, which has been great,” he said.
“I want to thank the fans and even those that have cancelled; we have been in contact to say we understand and hope they can get back to us once things return to normal.”
