Salford Red Devils have secured their future after a takeover deal of the Betfred Super League club was confirmed.
Salford were last month issued a reduced sustainability cap of £1.2m and ordered to sell players by the Rugby Football League (RFL), which came two months after fellow Super League sides agreed to give them an advance in 2025 central distribution money.
But, eight days before their first Super League match of the new season, last year’s fourth-placed finishers in the league announced a deal had been agreed with a consortium to buy 100 per cent of the club in an agreement that clears all the current debts.
The consortium is led by businessman Dario Berta, chief executive of investment bank Matanel, in a deal approved by the Community Benefit Society.
The deal is subject to final approval by the RFL.
Chris Irwin returns to the club as CEO and met with head coach Paul Rowley and the first-team squad on Friday at the Salford Community Stadium. A Salford statement said the new owners’ long-term vision includes “squad reinforcement, stadium redevelopment and club infrastructure”.
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Before the takeover was announced, Salford Red Devils’ Ryan Brierley discussed the atmosphere and future of the club after they were issued a sustainability cap of £1.2m by the Rugby Football League
The new ownership consortium will also “deliver additional significant investment for the future growth of the club, with a process already under way to recruit a new internal management structure”.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to Paul King and the existing team within the CBS who have led the club in recent years from celebrating its 150th anniversary, a Betfred Super League Grand Final and Challenge Cup final, as well as navigating the club through tricky periods such as Covid,” said Berta.
“This is the start of a very bright and successful future for Salford Red Devils. I’m very proud to be involved, and with Chris at the helm, I feel like we have the perfect opportunity to build something special.
“Our focus and dedication now is to work together with stakeholders and fans to build sustainable success on and off the pitch for the long term.”
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The Bench’s Jenna and Jon look back at how the Salford Red Devils performed in the 2024 season
By finishing fourth in the 2024 season, Salford qualified for the play-offs where they lost at home in the elimination round to Leigh Leopards.
The Red Devils open their 2025 Super League campaign away at St Helens on Saturday February 15, live on Sky Sports+.
They are first in action this Sunday in the third round of the Challenge Cup where they are away to League One side Midlands Hurricanes.
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Sam and Tom Burgess join Jenna Brooks at the Super League launch, as the Rugby League Verdict returns ahead of the new season
As a hangover from the RFL’s imposition of the reduced sustainability cap, the club confirmed the takeover deal had not been completed in time to avoid a “selection restriction” for the cup tie. However, they stated “this will be lifted ahead of the first fixture of the 2025 Betfred Super League season”.
‘If we didn’t finish in the top six it would be a failure’ – Brierley on 2025 prospects
Speaking to Sky Sports at Wednesday’s Super League season launch event, two days before the takeover to save the club was confirmed, experienced full-back Ryan Brierley said the mood in the squad was “surprisingly good” despite the turmoil of pre-season.
And the Scotland international expressed total belief they were still more than capable of repeating their play-off-finishing feats from 2024 in the new campaign.
“I’d love to say play-offs again, that would be more of a solidified target for us,” the 32-year-old Brierley said.
“I feel like we have the squad to do so and I think if we didn’t finish in the top six it would be a failure.
Brierley in action in last season’s Super League against Leigh
“We want to finish top six and get a chance to play in a big game.
“Me personally, I’m running out of time here. I know I’m coming to the end of my career, so I really want to play in a big game. I really want to get to Wembley or Old Trafford, it has been a massive dream of mine.
“I know the boys are no different and hopefully 2025 can be that year.”
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Highlights of the Salford Red Devils against the Leigh Leopards in the Super League play-off elimination final
Brierley, though, believes Salford have room to improve in the season’s crunch matches following their surprise home loss to Leigh in the Super League eliminator last September and a crushing sixth-round 40-0 Challenge Cup defeat to Hull KR.
“I think we could really easily be lowered into the fact of mediocrity and not doing our best – and we’ve got every excuse under the sun here to not perform – but I don’t think [head coach] Paul Rowley has created that group or created that environment,” added Brierley, who joined the club in 2022.
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“So what I will say is when we’ve come to a big game, especially last season, we didn’t perform well – Challenge Cup and Super League. Got to the play-offs last year but we didn’t perform well in a big game, which is disappointing. So our aim is get to a big game and perform a lot better.”
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
