Sky Sports pundits attack RFL ‘silence’ on Salford Red Devils and demand answers

Sky Sports pundit Brian Carney has taken aim at the Rugby Football League for their silence on the ongoing crisis at Salford Red Devils: with Jon Wilkin describing the situation as ‘rank’.

The Red Devils‘ players were paid just hours before their game at Castleford on Friday, with the salaries arriving a week later than originally scheduled.

That left grave uncertainty over the game even taking place on Friday, before the Tigers ran out winners to extend Salford’s unbeaten start to the new campaign.

And Carney took aim at the RFL post-match on Friday, insisting decisions were being ‘delivered in silence’ before naming RFL CEO Tony Sutton, insisting his lack of clarity on the matter has been poor.

Carney said of the key decision surrounding Salford: “They’re delivered in silence. You cannot find me an interview with a figure of note that has got a leadership role in this game.

“Tony Sutton hasn’t spoken to anyone publicly. Has he addressed this issue with anyone? With the game, with the fans, not just Castleford or Salford, but the other fans, there’s silence. That’s when leaders stand up. Anyone can do it in the good times.”

That left Wilkin in agreement, insisting: “The full situation is rank. All of it is rank.

“We can talk about how it’s communicated but we’ve had a club that’s whittled away and spent money and not been able to afford it for a long time. The fault lies with them.”

However, that left Carney once again revealing his frustration at the fact there is no communication from the sport’s leaders, and that it had left a significant cloud hanging over the Las Vegas weekend,

He said: “That makes the need for communication all the more important and we’re not getting it. Take us through it. We’re all lovers of the sport and nobody wants to see these headlines.

“None of us like to say, wasn’t Vegas great? By the way the Salford players just got paid and we might have a game tomorrow.”