Are there Financial Fair Play limits in place in the National League? Some of tge signings that Salford are making can’t be sustainable on the average crowds of 1,600 that they got last year...

It’s not enforced in the National League.

Peter Lim who owns the club is billionaire so it is sustainable, good luck to them I don’t get the fascination/bitterness about Salford. They won’t be first or last team to try and buy success to an extent but I get the feeling they are here to stay as they have people who understand football dealing with that side of things.

FFP is utter bollocks anyway like the fit and people persons test it does nothing to protect clubs from overspending and conmen.

But it’s not sustainable, because if the chairman walks away they have no means of paying the contracts. Same as what happened with Gretna. I’m not bitter, I just want people to play by the rules.

We've established that they are.

Remember one of their signings is Rodney, while I thought there was a player in there he was far from the finished article.

They aren’t breaking any rules.

Put it this way give me a Lim putting his money into the game over the Goldbergs and Coxalls of this World who are in it to take money out of the game any day of the week.

I think Salford as a place has the potential to become a decent sized established club certainly with more permanence the likes of Rushden and Diamonds and Forest Green.

It's not like Salford are in a big conurbation with 130 league clubs in a radius ol 30 miles or owt.

Only three really in the immediate area, Oldham, Bury and Rochdale. The population of those three put together doesn’t beat Salford by that much. Yes you have the two Manchester Premier League teams but that doesn’t really count and could almost work in Salfords advantage if they continue to progress at the rate they have. More affordable for a father a son to watch a winning progressive team. It wouldn’t surprise me at all in ten years time if they were a fairly established Championship club.

Apparently that Adam Rooney is on 5k p/w at Salford now. Fair play to them

On the face of it you would be safe to assume that Salford take the automatic place and the rest are fighting for the play offs. However every game they play will be against teams who will work that little harder and be desperate to win so it won’t be as easy as it might seem.

Still think they’ll walk it like

I read £4k elsewhere, which at this level is a massive difference. Believe what you want but I suspect folk are just guessing, no doubt he's most likely the highest paid National League player though.

If Pools could afford it I wouldn't be complaining. I'm more than happy with what we have brought in though, I'd say it'd bring more satisfaction being successful finding players on a budget than it does paying big money.

Surely the problem with Salford is that they were a nice little non-league club that offered a genuine alternative to the Premier League giants? Struggling to get along but with dedicated fans who felt real allegiance to their club.

The band of million/billionaires that took over have no interest in that sort of thing so in the guise of 'helping' a non-league club they've effectively shut it down. Different coloured strip, new stadium, endless churn of players as they get promoted every year. They aren't breaking any rules but it would have been more honest to start a new club. It would also have been better for the Salford fans who already had a range of higher league options but chose to watch football at the level they were at.

Look at last season we had a good budget for this league and as we know it didnt work out as planned.
Macclesfield won the league not because of money, they were consistent.
Yes salford may be spending money other than that they are just a team we have to play twice in a season

I don’t see supporting Pools as an option and my allegiance has nothing to do with the level of football we play at or who owns the club it’s purely down to them being my local team.

You could apply the same post you made to Manchester City or Chelsea as the clubs both clubs are fundamentally different since billionaires took over. I’d imagine it comes down to individuals but I imagine of the small band of original Salford fans for every person that doesn’t approve and has stopped going you have two who are loving the journey. I bet in some corner of Manchester you have a City fan sitting with a pint bemoaning the loss of his club and longing for a return of the days when they playing in League One. Apart from changing the kit Salford have tried to retain elements of the previous volunteer ran club, isn’t the same lady chairman. Whatever happens you will not please everyone and to me Salford feel far less plastic than some clubs past and present.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44894821

Good article Re Salford

Splashing the cash usually takes a few seasons to get into gear. There are dozens of examples in football and rugby.

Bolton is closer to Salford than Rochdale.

Wigan probably isn’t that far either, but I bet Salford has a bigger population than both its why they have potential.

I just don’t get the outrage about Salford, loads of clubs have bought a place in the League. Look at Fleetwood Town, then to a lesser extent Burton. Fylde are another trying to do it. I think the Accrington chairman is making a bit of a knob of himself to be honest.

Feel free to apply it to Man City and Chelsea if you think there is any real comparison there. I don't think billionaires with their track records on human rights abuses and links to organised crime should have been able to take them over either. As they were already established, sizable football clubs anyway I think the situation is very different and I'm sure most of their fans are well-pleased.

Fact remains that football clubs shouldn't be vulnerable to being rich people's toys or investment opportunities though. When these people choose to buy outside the league and then artificially propel a club up the pyramid through financial doping I think other clubs and their supporters have every right to object.

I still remember being at Rushden and Diamonds when they won the league - most of their 'fans' disappeared quick to avoid the traffic and didn't even see the trophy presented. I'd rather have been second to Darlo than to that twat of a shoe salesman and his frankenstein club.

Football clubs shouldn’t be vulnerable to huge investment?

Where do you draw the line?

Surely a bigger threat and blight on the game are owners with no money in it to line their own pockets.

Burton didnt spend big to get into the EFL they had a decent cup run and made a few extra signings based on that.

what makes me wonder is why these people like lim plough millions into a non league club and not one that is presently in the league like oldham and bury that are close to salford. imagine their attendances will go up slightly but still just under half of pools average if both are doing well. for me it should be a level playing field for all where the best signings are to do with the best management and not the biggest wallet. can see em being a new rushden and diamonds in a few years time and i,ll certainly enjoy it if it happens.

What is everyone proposing communist football? Salary caps? Draft systems?

It surely is a level playing field it’s 11 v 11, I’m certainly not of the mentality that Pools can’t beat or do as well as Salford.

it does help if you can sign anyone you want who is willing to play for you and pay them anything they ask for.

But in nearly every single League at every level you generally have a team with the most money, in Football it doesn’t always bring success it’s one of the beauties of the game. You can’t stop people investing in a club, whining about it just comes across as envy.

They haven’t signed Messi, Rooney is probably a decent League One player in reality but so is Andrew Davies who we signed.

Pj, can you name me more plastic clubs than Salford (barring mk dons) they have changed the colours in which the team play to replicate Man Utd and changed the badge of the club. They have seen the niche in which FC united of Manchester (a fan owned club) operated within, ie people who couldn’t afford to go to Man Utd and monitisied this. On top of this the BBC then sky have given them cash and portrayed them as plucky amateurs whilst being bankrolled by millionaires. I know you like to take contrary view points but you must see why people have a problem with it.

AFC Fylde were invented by a pissed off Blackpool fan, Rushden and Diamonds were Doctor Martins work team, Fleetwood was another Blackpool fan who couldn’t invest in Blackpool because of the Oystons. Forest Green set up (financially) by that militant Vegan fella, all of these clubs are as plastic at least and have came from nowhere due to investment but I didn’t see the same level of bitterness. It’s not ‘liking to have a contray view points’ I’m genuinely interested in the difference between Salford and other clubs apart from 50% of the club is owned by ex Man United players.

All of the above teams you mention got stick, the media adulation and increased coverage sticks in the throat, and the fact they have changed the club to become a mini Manchester United which are one of the most hated teams in the country.

Money didn't buy success for George Reynolds at Darlo, in fact it sowed the seeds of their demise. I don't have a problem with Salford, they have big names behind them, but think they are going about it the right way, don't think they are throwing money about willy nilly. Forest Green have been steadily building for over 20 years, no problem with that either.

In other news I see Fleetwood have signed Chris Long and Ched Evans on a season long loan. It will be interesting to see how Barton fares, I reckon good outside bet for the play offs in league 1.

I think whats riled everyone is they are going way above, what any other club has ever done in this league. Signing a player from a team thats about to play in europe for ridiculous sums of money. We wouldnt moan if it was us but there going to take some beating this year.

Horden have you missed the news they have signed a fella from Aberdeen for a fee and he is on a reported 5k a week. They are most definitely thorowibg money around.

It’s the SPL though in terms of wage bill and quality of player Aberdeen are probably no bigger then top half of League One. I think I read that the average salary for a first team player for them is £2,600 a week. A team with money is nothing new at this level. The Crawley team Steve Evans brought into the League was full of players who shouldn’t have been playing in the conference. To buy, or try to, your way out of this League is not a new concept it’s seemingly different with Salford because people ‘hate’ Manchester United.

I have, that is a lot of money, but for me its their marquee signing, and the rest of their team look ordinary to me. I don't think they will run away with it, in fact I imagine the likes of Scholes , Neville etc, would be looking at 2 or 3 years of consolidation at this level before stepping up to FL status.

Lots of div 1/2 strikers have went up to Scotland in the past, none of them world beaters, up there or down here, so no big deal imo. I would fancy Harrogate to do better than Salford. We do know though that in this league a team of players cobbled together can make a go of it, as long as they are fit, organised and have a gameplan..

Am i right in thinking the 2 meatheads who used to manage Salford are now at Chester? who are apparently throwing money around themselves now, despite supposedly being skint only recently.

It’s the SPL though in terms of wage bill and quality of player Aberdeen are probably no bigger then top half of League One. I think I read that the average salary for a first team player for them is £2,600 a week. A team with money is nothing new at this level. The Crawley team Steve Evans brought into the League was full of players who shouldn’t have been playing in the conference. To buy, or try to, your way out of this League is not a new concept it’s seemingly different with Salford because people ‘hate’ Manchester United.[/quote]

We had players on £2500 per week nearly ten years ago. I think people are cheesed off its not Pools that have this money.

That said, the fact a friendly of Salfords was televised last week meaning a bit of extra cash when they don't need it grinds peoples gears. That's before the proper fixtures start showing them every other week with the cameras looking for Neville, Giggs etc in the crowd.

It is and would be a bit of a story though, if they did achieve FL status, also Salford is a place on the up, once downtrodden now upwardly mobile ( well some parts are ) with big business moving there such as the BBC and getting the tail wind off Manchester's current status as the London on the North. Everything is in place for Salford to flourish.

I see salford where also in for donnelly but he decided on going to motherwell. A little piece on it on bbc sport

I see Billericay have signed Jay Emmanuel-Thomas as well - another team throwing money at it.

Am I allowed to hate them cos of the mouthy, arrogant owner?

if some ex premier league north east players with a foreign billionaire walked into say billingham town and built a new ground and threw millions at it like salford i am sure you would look at things a little differently. just because salford is over 100 miles from hartlepool they are deemed not to be a problem. so as long as its not in my backyard its ok then.

Why would that have any effect on me? South Shields are an up and coming non league club not far from us, Spennymoor have also had plenty of cash thrown at them in recent years I don’t find myself foaming at the mouth about either, it’s just Football. My point is that plenty of Salfords have emerged in the past.

Football is mad all over. Everton are signing Richarlison for £50mil, a player who had about 10 good games then did nothing for the rest of the season.

If that's the going rate for an inconsistent, average premier league player who cost my dream team valuable points then £4k a week for a player in the national league is nothing, provided the money is there which it evidently is.

Surely it adds to the entertainment rather than detracts anything? There's plenty of clubs in this league on the bones of their arse, it would be boring if they all were the same.

Article from Sky Sports

SALFORD 'BLEW' MOTHERWELL AWAY

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admits he was "blown away" by Salford when competing for the same player this summer.

Salford showed their financial mettle this week when they signed Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney.

"I actually competed with Salford for two players," he said. "I got one of them, Liam Donnelly, and completely lost out on the other one, who they blew us away with money. That's a club that's going places but that's what you are competing with.

"Obviously they have a lot of backing and a good manager, so they are an attractive prospect for players now.

"It's a hard one, you see Adam Rooney who has done very well here and scored a lot of goals, dropping down to a Conference side. It's tough, it's getting tougher."

£100 season tickets at salford havent quite gone down as well as they did at pools. Sold 1000. If they cant get the crowds with the players there signing now there isnt much hope for them in the long run.