Bosses at the club spoke about its future and relationship with Salford council.
Ryan Brierley, the CEO of Salford rugby league phoenix club (Image: Kenny Brown / MEN)(Image: )
It’s a Wednesday afternoon and it’s frantic in the offices at the CorpAcq Stadium in Salford.
The city’s former rugby league club Salford Red Devils were liquidated at the end of last year, and a phoenix club has risen from the ashes.
Former Red Devils captain Ryan Brierley was appointed CEO of the new team and is tasked with overseeing pretty much everything ahead of their opening match against Oldham on January 16.
A consortium led by another former Salford player, Mason Caton-Brown, was successful in its efforts at leading the phoenix club’s revival and gaining membership approval from the Rugby Football League.
But in their offices at the stadium days before the big game, the scene is not too different from a house move. There are unpacked boxes on the floor and stuff is everywhere.
One of the team jumps in to say: ‘It’s just been non stop, we were trying to sort everything out on Christmas Eve, that’s what it’s been like since then.’
The new club is working on a stadium deal with Salford council (Image: Kenny Brown / MEN)(Image: )
Ryan Brierley sits on a table to be photographed and there’s an air fryer behind him – it is quickly moved out of view – and he’s being asked about organising a raffle before trying to sum up how the last few weeks have played out.
He’s a childhood Salford fan and has the honour of leading the new club through the turbulence of its early days.
“It’s been chaotic,” Ryan says. “It’s really challenging but I’ve learnt an awful lot in such a short space of time.
“It’s a lot of hard work in a hectic nature, but it’s something I really enjoy, which is learning on the go.”
The former rugby league player was part of the Salford Red Devils team that was going through turmoil as it approached its end.
There were times when staff went unpaid, the club was given financial support from Salford council, and it looked to be constantly on the brink of collapse.
What was that like to be involved in as a former captain?
“It was just awful,” Ryan explains. “It’s really heartbreaking when you see people you love and care about going through the anxiety and stress of the situation.
“That was probably the most difficult part, being almost a spokesperson for the group, trying to defend the club as best as we could, but ultimately I guess the stuff went on would probably never happen again in this sport and shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
“Really poor what happened, and ultimately we’re lucky that we’ve been given a chance to resurrect the club and save 152 years of heritage.
“It’s not about me or the staff here, it’s about the fans who own this club. The way they galvanised together at the back end of it was pretty special, so to have the chance to lead this organisation into this new era is pretty humbling and a massive honour.”
Ryan Brierley, the CEO of Salford rugby league phoenix club, has had a busy start to his new role (Image: Kenny Brown / MEN)(Image: )
Salford has a special connection with rugby that is hard to find elsewhere.
The city was the birthplace of William Webb Ellis, the man credited with inventing the sport of rugby itself.
For the club to lose its top rugby league club in Salford Red Devils was a hammer blow for its loyal supporters.
A fan protest group called the 1873 – named in reference to the Red Devils’ founding – led the charge in holding the previous owners to account.
Connor Robinson, one of the members of the group, summed it up last October: “For a lot of people who do attend, this club is their life.
“We know a lot of people who come from broken families and it’s their one time in the week where they might go meet up with their mum or dad, and spend that quality time together.
“It’s also the glue for a lot of people who’ve moved away from the area, that reason for coming back to the city every week and meeting up with friends and family, it’s so much more than just a rugby club and 80 minutes of rugby league.”
Salford Red Devils had struggled to survive financially for years, and often relied on support from Salford council.
Loans and grants were given to the former club to help it stay afloat, but this drew criticism from some in the council chamber who questioned whether it was the right thing to do with public money.
The council also own Salford Community Stadium where Salford RLFC are playing, so the relationship between the two is key to the new club’s future.
Salford Mayor Paul Dennett at Salford Community Stadium last year (Image: Salford council)(Image: )
Ryan Brierley said: “The council has given us support, there’s obviously things they can and can’t do, it’s taxpayers’ money at the end of the day isn’t it, but we have been given assurances that they will help support us throughout the year like they always have done.
“I trust the Mayor and Councillor [Jack] Youd and people like that, they’ve been really supportive of us, I trust their word that they will help us, and straight away they reached out with a few initiatives that we can use.
“I have no doubt that this council will support this club going forward like they always have done.
“We can’t keep asking for handouts all the time, we’ve got to give value, so the Mayor and the board within that building need to be shown value for us, and that for me starts in the community.
“We have to do better in the community, we don’t do enough, but to receive you’ve got to give first, that will be my aim.
“There’s no deal in place at the moment [over the stadium], there are ongoing conversations between our managing director, we’re very early into the conversations and negotiations around what’s going to happen around the stadium.
“Hopefully there’s some alignment there in the coming weeks, but as of yet we are still to get into the real detail of how that looks.
“But what I will say is both the stadium, council, and the catering company have been really supportive of what we’ve done so far, so hopefully those relationships grow and we get something over the line which is beneficial for all parties.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked how the new club can survive when Salford Red Devils could not?
Mr Brierley said: “Don’t spend more than we earn, it’s pretty simple for me.
“Historically this club have bought players and spent on things that they couldn’t afford, and that’s nothing to do with the last 12 months I think that’s historically, we’ve not dealt with that right and we’ve gone over budget on certain things, rolled the dice too many times, we can’t do that anymore, we can’t gamble, we need to do things right, remain on budget and be disciplined.”