‘THE Salford Reds are Rising’ – that chant from the Red Devils faithful can often be heard at the AJ Bell Stadium and at Super League away grounds throughout the season.
And every word of it is true, Salford are rising and have been doing so for the past five years.
Under former head coach Ian Watson, the Red Devils made it to a Super League Grand Final and a Challenge Cup Final whilst under Paul Rowley, Salford were play-off semi-finalists last season.
One of those catalysts of change behind the scenes has been Salford chief executive, Ian Blease, who was brought back to the club in 2016 by then owner Marwan Koukash.
Since then, Blease has overseen an incredible rise, but he is also determined to praise those around him.
“I’m a massive believer in things happen for a reason. if you surround yourself with the right people in life things happen for you. We have been blessed with our signings,” Blease said on the Trot The Egg In podcast.
“We have been cute with our signings, there has been destiny involved.
“The guys who do the work behind the scenes and the backroom team, the work they do is tremendous and they build that culture and environment. Rowls (Paul Rowley) is doing a fantastic job in there with Kurt (Haggerty) and Krisnan (Inu).
“I’m very proud of what we’ve done, the signings we have made have taken this club to where it is now.
“It’s not where it needs to be yet and there is room for improvement, but we’ve done a good job amongst us all so far. There are still better signings to come hopefully.
“I noticed when we got to the 2019 Grand Final, agents were throwing their players at me whereas two years previous I was on the phone to them.”
Blease went on to describe that something ‘special’ is occurring at Salford at present – and who could disagree with him?
“It’s only natural, Ollie (Partington) is a good example. Did I think I would get him when we went in for him? No I didn’t but we managed to get him and I’m so excited to see him in a Salford shirt.
“There is definitely something special brewing in the club.”
On a side note, Blease used to play for Salford, registering over 250 appearances for the club and he waxed lyrical about one away ground in particular.
“Headingley is the best. It’s even better now they’ve done it up, it’s just a fabulous ground.
“Headingley is beautiful, the pitch is beautiful.”
