RYAN BRIERLEY has vowed to run Salford responsibly, even if that means taking the club to the top becomes a long-term project.
A key player for almost four seasons at the now wound-up Red Devils, Brierley is leading the new club as its chief executive.
That’s after a consortium fronted by another of their former players, Mason Caton-Brown, was chosen to take the Salford licence and play in the Championship.
Brierley, 33, witnessed first-hand how the old club fell apart and is determined not to repeat the same mistakes.
“I lost my love for playing when I left Salford,” Brierley told the Devil in the Detail podcast.
“It hurt me a lot. I never wanted to leave, but I had to do the right thing for my family. The pain was too much while I was still there, seeing what was happening.
“I never believed the good was going to happen at the end of it. I was one of the people who was most sceptical (about the owners), maybe because I’d been with Toronto.
“I was the signs really early. I never bought into it. When I saw the players and staff buy into it, it made me nervous. I didn’t really like it.
“I almost became a spokesperson for the team, to resist against it a bit, to my own detriment at times. I knew I had to get out before something tragic happened, as obviously it did.
“Ultimately, we were spending too much compared to what we were bringing in. In my role now, I’ve been given a budget and I’ll stick to it, I went go a penny over.
“I need to make sure the club is never in the situation it has been for the past 12 months. If that means living within its means and it being a gradual progression over a five- or ten-year period, I’m happy with that.”
With Salford opening the season at home to Oldham on Friday, January 16, time is short to build not just a squad but the club’s whole operations.
Brierley says this has been made significantly more challenging by a reluctance from previous partners and suppliers to get involved.
“Every relationship that (the old club) had in the last five years has been broken,” he explained.
“People won’t deal with us because they’re owed money. Agents are owed money so we can’t get players. Every conversation I’m having, I’m hit with ‘we’re owed money’. That’s been really difficult.
“It’s been a whirlwind of knock-back after knock-back, because people won’t deal with us.
“I’ve had a bit of credit because I ring people first-hand and I tell them this story. But some people are a flat-out ‘no’, which I totally understand.”
Nonetheless, he is confident Salford supporters will have a team to watch, with announcements being held for now.
“We’ve got so many players now and coaches signed, but their contracts only start on January 1, so I don’t want to announce that until their contracts start,” said Brierley.
“We’re hopefully looking at training on January 5, which gives us 11 days (to prepare) for the first game.”