SALFORD RED DEVILS have been forced into liquidation after a winding-up petition brought by HMRC was granted by the High Court.
It brings to an end the club’s 152-year history, at least in its current guise, after a spell of financial misery.
A tax bill of more than £700,000 is among total debt believed to be in the region of £5 million.
The Salford City Reds (2013) business will be closed down, with a liquidator taking immediate control and remaining assets used to pay off creditors.
A number of parties are said to have an interest in establishing a new club to take on Salford’s RFL license and ensure they continue in a new form.
The clock is ticking, however, with the Championship season to begin on Friday, January 16.
And rugby league’s issues could worsen with another second-tier side, Featherstone Rovers, facing a winding-up petition next Wednesday (December 10) over a reported £120,000 tax bill.
Salford’s winding-up order brings to a close a sorry saga in which longstanding financial issues have dramatically worsened since a takeover in February by a consortium fronted by Swiss businessman Dario Berta but with the chief influence of Sire Kailahi and Curtiz Brown.
Promised funding did not materialise, even when securing four separate adjournments of the winding-up petition on the basis that money would be forthcoming to settle their debts.
Operating costs throughout the year have been covered by further loans while many staff, including almost every first-team player, had already departed.
Salford – six-time league champions, most recently in 1976, and one-time Challenge Cup winners – were relegated from Super League at the end of last season after 17 consecutive years in the top flight.
Attention will now turn to whether a new club can be formed in time for next season, with two groups believed to be in pole position.
Chris Irwin, who had a spell as chief executive earlier this year, is part of one consortium hoping to do so, alongside the deputy mayor of Salford Council, Jack Youd.
And as first revealed by The Sun, former Salford player Mason Caton-Brown is part of a separate group with an interest in setting up a new club.
Any new club would need to recruit an entire playing squad – almost certainly a part-time one – and secure a venue, although the two frontrunners have each been assured they could play at the CorpAcq (Salford Community) Stadium home.