Is Marwan Koukash giving up on Salford?

Are you aware he was born in Israel? The 'west bank' being in the land of Israel. Tired of lies and BS from the media....

The Barry I realise that wasn't the equation you owned but I don't think anyone at the club even MK himself thought they would win the premiership . SRD fans are too jaundiced by the past to hope for anything other than a competitive team at best! At least that's my understanding of it I don't want to speak for them!

Not my equation rusty. The point I was trying to make is that perhaps expectations of Salford are out of whack. Punters see a billionaire buy the club then go on a recruitment drive and automatically assume a premiership is the next step. Salford have a lot of work to do based on what I saw. Their team may be better than it was because of the recruitment but it's nowhere near premiership standard.

That's a bunch of fascinating theories Glenn. I think if you had substituted about anything but winners and the Manchester area and it might have been more accurate. That along with the complete rip off the stadium has been for SRD and the placing of it so badly, and the partners involved so a yawnion team could benefit. All of this just added to aura of loser about the team and the ground. But your suggestion of retraction to even fewer places would be a field day for the national jokes kick and clap dailies! They'd still ignore it just laugh more! " eccentrics turning up to cheer you on " Just unnecessarily insulting and based on an assumption I am an SRD Fan! May I ask if you're an RL fan yourself?

Andy yep, good points and facts thanks. Building local depth, is important too as England need to have strong nat team. And on a side note amazed Terry Campese got a start he's on 1 leg and so slow now. What is interesting with MK is his wife wanted to buy bradford and the SL rejected it and said no. I look at that as a tremendous shame, as Bradford a RL heartland are now broke, MK's wife would have solved those problems. Money talks, the Eng SL don't seem to match MK or his wife's ambition and vision for the SL, a shame. No wonder he's looking at the NRL.

The Barry your formula "billionaire + recruitment drive = premiership" is one that works in football. But the salary cap restrictions in place in SL stop this from happening to any real extent. It is MK's repeated attempts and lobbying to change this that have upset the hierarchy and the dubious nasties among fans from other clubs. The very things that they bash him for are things that they would support in the Soccer teams they follow. Even some of the things he's been attributed with saying are not what he actually said but nasties aren't interested in the truth, are they? I think Salford have tried to work within the limitations above and that's the squad you see - but it should be one perfectly capable of competing though you wouldn't have known that against St Helens!

Russell - They are terminal bacause nobody in Manchester under the age of sixty could give a toss about Rugby League.It's easy for players to slack off when there is no popular media pressure, because there is no popular media coverage and your running around in relative anonymity excluding the couple of thousand eccentrics turning up to cheer you on, dreaming of a return to the early seventies when people actually cared. He might be a smart cookie but he is going to blow some dough on this lemon.Wigan,Snt Helens,Warrington,Leeds and Hull are the only places in England that have the combination of population size and public interest needed to support full time professional teams.The rest of the clubs are based in places where the population is too small or there is simply not enough public interest. They should cut back to eight teams like the old Brisbane Rugby League which was a cracking comp that drew great crowds and would probably still going strong today if Queensland had poker machines back in the seventies.Eight teams would make the comp more intense and of a higher quality and they wouldn't have carry teams that struggle to average 5k to a game and just don't have the money to put strong teams on the field.

Not meant as a blight on the comp. I think there may be a flaw in the equation: billionaire + recruitment drive = premiership. Based on the roster and performance they have a long way to go.

Andy are there foreign import restrictions in the SL? If so more imports may boost the standard.

This is a good argument johnno and although the examples are from football zzzzzzzzz I can see what you're getting at. However, that doesn't really answer what I asked about. And this set of players need to get over themselves and at least make an effort to compete. There is no amount of excuses placed at the feet of people who weren't even on the paddock that should let them off the hook. So MK makes a tweet and that makes the forums and the news and I don't mind this cos publicity is publicity and interest is interest. What I constantly find myself arguing against in MK's case is the amount of imaginary, fictitious stuff that has made him out to be some sort of villain. The real villains were on that pitch taking money under false pretences and that has hardly been mentioned...................

Russell Well effected, I'll answer that in recruitment. A player is looking for a good pay deal, but he sees the club set up with a dominerring owner. Yes he is hungry and passionate and determined that is good,but maybe there's a sense of feeling MK's wrath could be a burden. Sometimes when an owner is so hungry and passionate and demanding of success it can be suffocating. Fabio Capello has been critiscied in his coaching for being a suffocating presence. Too demanding, causing caution and fear of failure. Maybe MK is being to demanding, and demanding too much from his players. There needs to be a balance. Guss Hiddink seems to get it right, in man management. He is very demanding, but somehow the players seem to be able to play with freedom and have a respect for the boss, and defiantly don't want to feel his wrath, but he doesn't seem to suffocate his teams,like Capello,and Arsen Wenger.

Salford were dire against St Helens. I felt like tweeting 'I give up' and I have no allegiance to the club. I've got to say if that list of players in the article is evidence of a 'quality roster and recruitment' then they have bigger problems than they think. That squad would get beaten by 50 every week in the NRL.

"........you cannot have one person dictating policy and rule change to suit their own purpose at the risk of causing instability at the expense of everyone else........" Johnno What policy has he actually directed and which rule change has he truly made happen? What instability has been caused and who has been affected by all this suggested nonsense? These ideas stem from his willingness to try and make an SL club(s) be able to compete for the best talent and be stronger in the market place both of which need addressing! But at no point as he assumed that he can determine the change on his own and is only guilty of persistence, a crime for which you have to be beheaded according to his detractors. There is a huge difference between what MK actually says and said and the way it's both reported and the way it's reacted to. That is a sad indictment of our sport and its followers rather than MK himself!

Trip hound you make some good points. I don't know the English Super league scene much of what's going on, but it seems Salford were on there last legs there before MK came in. I wonder if Salford is like Gold Coast Titans, no one seems to care and all the core supporters have left so they had to turn to a rich man to survive where as ST Helens were in better financial position. So when a club is broke, all the fans have abandoned what choice do you have but to turn to a rich man. The salary cap stuff doesn't help. Sometimes also in recruitment it can be a turn off with an owner to heavily involved, as players will feel burdened to play for him, and also the personal crossing the professional. We see it all the time with coach players not liking each other,but in a way that's less tough than maybe not liking the owner. MK seems to involved on a personal level, and if the players don't see eye to eye with him or not like him they will feel burdened by his presence. The owners should stay where they belong in the board room and take a back seat, MK for mine is like when Russell Crowe first took over souths too involved, that it starts to turn players off joining, with an all too encompassing owner.

"If Rugby League pimps its self to any plutocrat that comes along waving wads of cash and allows them to call all the shots then it is no better than premier league football." Did you just want to mention all your pet hates in one go? Shall we sing the Internationale? And as for "I'd like to use someone else's money for what I think is important!" Well wouldn't we all? The rest of your diatribe is largely made up of myth, conjecture and illogical connections and a few rather obvious statements that prove nothing. Or maybe I should have left it at "made up!" But thank you for yet further proof of why, if he has any sense MK will distance himself from a sport that continues to attack him for thinking it's a great yet undersold product!

Personally I am a big fan of Koukash. He wants to make the game bigger and better, so good on him. However, I do believe he has made some big mistakes at Salford. I've never felt that the players that have been signed during his time have complimented each other. They've got a pretty big forward pack, so you think they're gonna have a plan to dominant the middle. But then they have halves Chase, Smith (released to Wakefield) and now Dobson who all want to throw the ball to the edges all the time. We all no that Super League in general is a step down from the NRL but one position that Super League is fairly stacked in is hookers. They have Tommy Lee, who is okay but not one of the top men going round. I'm genuinely surprised that Salford didn't look at signing Michael Ennis, someone who gives it all and has a winning mentality. I think if they can find a top hooker and have one dominant playmaker then they can make great strides. On the NRL front, I'd love to see Koukash buy a club. I genuinely believe he could be the man to unite the Wests Tigers. Imagine him building a stadium, say 25-30k seater. Stopping the club having a million different home venues. He would tell the idiots on both sides of the merger that it is a new start and that Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies no longer exist.

If Rugby League pimps its self to any plutocrat that comes along waving wads of cash and allows them to call all the shots then it is no better than premier league football. Some people may think that would be a wonderful thing but the people that ultimately lose out are genuine fans and the community spirit the sport generates is dissipated and ultimately washed away in a tidal wave of corporate greed. Initially Marwan Koukash wanted to buy in at St.Helens (the town where he still lives) however the Saints chairman and major share holder Eamon McManus didn't want the solid foundations that underpin the club to be tampered with in a blaze of publicity and a deviation from the long term blue print for the clubs future. Instead Marwan was encouraged to pump his seemingly unlimited resources into a struggling club in an attempt to resurrect their fortunes and this he found a few miles down the East Lancashire Road at Salford. What has unfolded over the last couple of years at Salford is well documented and has been commented on by other contributors in this debate but what it does shine a light upon is that you cannot just go out and buy instant success. The future of any club is all about the spirit, enthusiasm and commitment engendered by everyone that holds a genuine stake in that club succeeding and who are in for the long haul, be it a born and bred local supporter, a player that has come through the club system and understands the ethos of the place or a wealthy backer that holds the club in their heart and is prepared to put their financial clout and expertise at the clubs disposal. While I respect and appreciate the many qualities Marwan brings to the sport you cannot have one person dictating policy and rule change to suit their own purpose at the risk of causing instability at the expense of everyone else. For what it's worth I think Marwan will be in for the long haul, if it is a case that he isn't and he leaves the sport because he isn't getting his own way then so be it, it may be perceived as a great loss but if all you are is the play thing of a rich man then you're nothing anyway. Rather than looking upon the Salford situation as they must win everything instantly it would be fantastic if the club builds, season on season in a self-sustaining way, underpinned by the security of Marwan's wealth. What I would like to see is utilising Marwan's money and enthusiasm to really supporting and promoting some of the initiatives that have been mentioned on the international stage.

The comparison in the attendance figures are way off the mark were these figures for a Thursday night and shown on television ?.