Salford Red Devils CEO Paul King remains hopeful that a deal can be agreed for a new investment group to save the financially struggling Super League club in the next two days and avoid a firesale of their players.
Salford have been instructed this week by the Rugby Football League (RFL) to sell players after being issued a sustainability cap of £1.2 million.
Until the Super League outfit reaches that figure they are unable to register players for the new season, which begins on 13 February.
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Read MoreKing has revealed to The i Paper that there is a group still interested in buying the Red Devils with talks progressing but concedes if a takeover is not completed before 21 January then the club will be forced to sell its stars.
“We’re waiting for an offer to come through on Saturday,” he said.
“It is promising, we’re expecting an offer in the next few days and then it’s a case of how quickly we can move on that.
“I’m hopeful at that point the RFL will back off a little bit. Again, the RFL is the governing body, they have to do what they have to do.
“I know they’re supportive of the acquisition process. The plan B was always if this doesn’t come off we’d have to sell players.”
Former owner Marwan Koulash handed over control of Salford to a community trust, led by lifelong Red Devils fan King, in 2018.
The club reached the Super League Grand Final in 2019 and the Challenge Cup final in 2020.
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Read MoreSalford claim they ran into financial trouble on 4 November last year after failing to receive a subsidy control grant promised by the local council.
They also state they have been hamstrung over major delays with the purchase of Salford Community Stadium by the council, which has impacted several revenue opportunities.
The club was granted a £500,000 advance of its central distribution by the RFL at the end of November.
“We were supposed to get a subsidy [from the council] in November,” King said.
“It was first supposed to be March, then it got delayed until November, and then on 4 November I was told they weren’t doing it. That was a shock to the system and left us in a big hole.
“At the same time, the stadium was supposed to be done in March. So we’ve been left in limbo.
“I’m not blaming them. I’m the CEO, I’m the one who sent us flying too close to the sun so blame me. We invested in a squad but the expected incomes haven’t been released in time.
“We’re now in a position where it’s looking like an acquisition. But if the acquisition doesn’t go through in the next couple of days then I’ve got no choice but to sell players. So we’re running out of time.
“I accept we are where we are. We’ve got a Plan A and a Plan B, but we’re not the first and we certainly won’t be the last. There’s just not enough money in the game.”
King concedes if Salford are forced to sell players next week it will be “devastating” but the club will continue.
“When you’ve got Paul Rowley as coach we’ll be competitive anyway,” he said.
“It will be devastating if we lose talent such as Marc Sneyd, Kallum Watkins etc, it will be hard to take. But we’ll rebuild.”
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