Jon Wilkin calls on Salford owners to ‘do one’ as call to ‘liquidate the club’ explained

Rugby league pundit Jon Wilkin has called for Salford Red Devils to begin afresh in the Championship from next season as a Phoenix club, amid heavy criticism of the club’s current owners. 

The financially-stricken Red Devils brought the curtain down on a horrid 2025 season with a 52-16 defeat to Wakefield Trinity at the Salford Community Stadium; however, the defeat was quickly moved out of the spotlight following a pitch invasion from fans.

Wilkin’s words also come following the Red Devils’ decision not to apply for a place in an expanded Super League next season, as well as an ongoing HMRC winding-up petition.

‘Go from a blank canvas in the Championship’

Speaking on Sky Sports, the pundit and former Grand Final winner called for the club’s owners to ‘do one’, and detailed his hopes that the club can ‘go from a blank canvas’ in the second-tier next season.

“My hope is that the current ownership do one,” said Wilkin. “They’ve been involved in a land grab which has gone wrong and left them with something they don’t want, and they’re not putting money in.

“The issue here is a severe lack of communication from the new ownership group, who came in to get rich from a land grab from a stadium which is attached to land, and it’s gone wrong. They’ve not been able to secure funds, they’ve been deceitful to the fans and given them no information, and the fans have reacted in an emotional way.

“What’s the result of it? Liquidate the club, get rid of the HMRC looming debt that’s going to take them under anyway, start a new club again, re-employ the staff again and go from a blank canvas in the Championship. That’s my hope for Salford.

“Let’s go back to November-December last year, the big mistake and where it all went wrong was giving them an advance at that stage, when they knew the club didn’t have any financial legs to stand on. We decided to bail them out, and we limped them to the start line.

“I feel sorry for the fans, players and staff at Salford, I don’t feel sorry for two people who try to get rich out of the club. I think we all love and respect Salford as a club, it’s loyally followed by a great group of fans and they’ve been let down by the ownership.”

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