{"id":81960,"date":"2025-08-21T06:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/81960\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T06:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:27:09","slug":"brian-carneys-passionate-take-on-strategic-coup-and-super-league-expansion-amid-backdrop-of-salford-red-devils-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/81960\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Carney’s passionate take on ‘strategic coup’ and Super League expansion amid backdrop of Salford Red Devils’ saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

One of rugby league\u2019s leading voices has spoken out against the proposed expansion of Super League, speaking out against what he calls a \u2018strategic coup\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sky Sports\u2019 host Brian Carney appeared on the broadcaster\u2019s Rugby League Verdict, initially reacting to the news of the resolution for the cancelled game between Salford Red Devils and Wakefield Trinity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been confirmed by the RFL that Wakefield will be handed a 48-0 walkover win<\/a> as per Operational Rules and Carney explained that was to be expected but argued that Trinity could feel \u201caggrieved\u201d given the strong chances they would have scored more than 48 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would have been playing an understrength Salford side and they may feel, with points difference being all important, that they could have put more than 48 points on,\u201d Carney explained, before he began his take on what he dubbed the \u201csorry Salford saga\u201d.<\/p>\n

After giving a brilliant and concise rundown of the past 12 months, Carney argued that it is ultimately fans who own clubs, not those who have their names on the deeds, and he suggested that last weekend\u2019s game against Wakefield was cancelled in light of the proposed fan protest.<\/p>\n

He even stated: \u201cI\u2019d say now if that match (against Leigh) was at Salford this week, there\u2019s a very good chance it wouldn\u2019t have gone ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby League \u2018not ready financially\u2019 for 14-team Super League<\/p>\n

Carney would then turn his attention to the current state of the game with the proposed Super League expansion having more details after confirmation yesterday that clubs who apply to join will undergo stricter financial and sustainability checks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite that update, Carney argued that the \u201ccomms have been nothing short of horrendous\u201d, before pointing to the fact that clubs must apply by next Tuesday and have data supplied by September 12th, despite now knowing if they will need to apply until October 16th when IMG grades are fully confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about it is, nobody knows exactly if they\u2019re in the IMG rating and in what positions until after the Grand Final so you\u2019re being asked to apply without knowing where you stand,\u201d Carney explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that we\u2019ve got one of the greatest field sports in the world and we are mired in an unedifying off-field strategic coup and issues with Salford. The sooner we can park that, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having made that \u2018strategic coup\u2019 dig, Carney expanded as he confirmed that he is all for expansion of rugby league but simply believes that now is not the time, asserting that he is yet to see a \u201ccoherent and logical justification for expanding in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Wigan man also argued that he believes the game is \u2018not ready financially\u2019 to expand to 14 teams, before speaking passionately on the future of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe passion and enthusiasm for the sport of rugby league, particularly in the north of England, means the game of rugby league will not die. It absolutely will not die.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that are in charge of the game now, some of them, are driving the game in the wrong direction, but the majority are good people and they will not let the game die. More importantly, the people that own the game, the fans, will never let this game die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of rugby league\u2019s leading voices has spoken out against the proposed expansion of Super League, speaking out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-81960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}