KOUKASH ON THE OFFENSIVE

Dr. Marwan Koukash

Dr. Marwan Koukash held his clear the air press conference earlier today in front of the press and around 150 fans and did not disappoint.

Using some colourful language and not shying away from anything Koukash confirmed, amongst other things, that Australia’s National Coach Tim Sheens has been appointed Director of Rugby, Iestyn Hariss’ position as Head Coach is safe and that Bobbie Goulding has not yet been offered a position at the club.

Koukash, sat alongside club CEO Martin Vickers, stated that they had so far suffered a disappointing season and that the club should be better placed than they are. He also stressed, interestingly in the light of his role in the Marquee Player proposal, that Salford must focus on youth development as a priority.

With this fact in mind it seemed certain that the aforementioned Goulding, who has recently spent time with Koukash and Vickers and is very vocal on Social Media about his desire to work with young rugby players, would be presented as a new appointment as the Head of Youth Development at the club – not so, as no offer has yet been made to the former Great Britain international.

Tim Sheens

The one appointment confirmed though could be a masterstroke by Koukash. New Director of Rugby Tim Sheens is a man who has seen it all in Rugby League and he will not be afraid to lay it on the line with Koukash and tell him where he is going wrong. Sheens has won four Australian Premiership Titles – 3 with Canberra Raiders and 1 with Wests Tigers – has coached at State of Origin level with New South Wales and has been coach of the Australian National side since 2009, winning the World Cup Final in 2013 although his tenure is likely to come to an end now on the back of 3 straight defeats against New Zealand and the Aussies being knocked off the top of the World Rankings by New Zealand for the first time since the 1960’s.

Even so, he still has the kind of experience and knowledge that any fledgling rugby league coach would bite their right arm off to have available to them. Koukash confirmed that Iestyn Harris will remain as Head Coach and the young Harris should embrace the opportunity to work with a man of Sheens’ experience and make sure that he dredges every last bit of knowledge out of the man’s brain – this appointment could be the making of him as a Head Coach is he approaches it with the right attitude.  

One of the main item’s of concern recently has been the allegations of Salford players and staff going unpaid and bills not being paid to suppliers. Koukash insisted that since he has arrived at the club all players and staff have been paid in full and on time – if not earlier than they should have been. He then produced a letter from New Zealand international full back Kevin Locke’s lawyer that stated that the Salford Red Devils owed Locke £52,000 – Koukash then reiterated that everyone, including Locke, had been paid in full and that if Locke could in any way prove that he was owed money then Koukash would drive him to the bank personally and pay him in cash.

Kevin Locke

It was confirmed that Locke had tendered his resignation to the club and Koukash advised that this had been accepted with immediate effect. He also made it clear that Salford would pursue Locke for damages and also disclosed that the former New Zealand Warrior was the highest paid player in Super League.

Koukash then moved onto another player in dispute with the club. It was confirmed there is currently a dispute between the Red Devils and Tony Puletua but that the club refute all allegations made against them and will defend themselves. They have commenced legal proceedings against Puletua for comments made in the media. Although Puletua is currently on loan at Hull Kingston Rovers the Red Devils, Koukash revealed, are still paying his wages. 

Using some colourful language the billionaire racehorse owner then declared that the club had received nothing from the local council since he had been at the club. The £1.5m loan that had been discussed in the local media recently was organised via the old Salford club and had nothing to do with him. He stated that the Red Devils currently pay £300-400,000 annually to service a CVA agreement and that he is now going to sue the local council for approx. £800,000 that he believes the council owe the club – what the council owe this money for was not made clear but Koukash is certainly going to keep some lawyers happy for the next few months.

Koukash then advised that it would cost the Red Devils £500,000 to play at the AJ Bell Stadium next year and that they received no revenue from shop sales or food and drink sales – it appears that certain agreements were in place before Koukash took over and he cannot do much about them at the moment – these are certainly streams of revenue that other clubs make hundreds of thousands of pounds from and the Salford club need to urgently put this right although it was stated that ‘’we’re in a healthy position compared to other clubs’’ and that the Red Devils debt stands at around just £150,000.00.

He also stated that he was still interested in owning an NRL club but that he would first concentrate on re-building his reputation after the non-payment allegations made against him. He made it clear that he wants the club to stand on it’s own two feet financially in the next 2-3 years and that ‘’my wife would kill me if she knew how much I had invested in the club’’.

Dr. Koukash never disappoints and is always forthright and, you would hope, honest but it certainly appeared that the main message was everything in the garden is rosy but there are a few people who want to mow it all down and it’s all everyone else’s fault, not his. He is certainly going to be talking to a few lawyers over the next few months but the main positive to come out of the meeting was the appointment of Sheens – he really could have a positive effect on the whole club, not just on the rugby playing side.

It will certainly be interesting to view the developments at the club over the next few months.