Caton-Brown proposes 'sustainable' Salford bid

Former Salford Red Devils winger Mason Caton-Brown has said his bid to take over the liquidated club prioritises running the organisation in a sustainable fashion.

Caton-Brown, as part of The Phoenix Bid consortium, submitted an application to the Rugby Football League (RFL) to operate a Salford-based team at the CorpAcq Stadium after the Red Devils were wound up by the High Court earlier in December.

In an interview with BBC Radio Manchester, Caton-Brown said his bid would see the club go part-time but stated that a head coach and several players had already been lined up.

"Speaking for myself and the rest of the group, we're not coming into this to make money or a profit," he said.

"We want to build this club sustainably so it's preserved and it's there to protect the club and protect the community.

"Obviously we're going to use our business heads to make sure it's sustainable and we're paying our players, our staff, our partnerships but we're not looking to make a big profit."

Former chief executive Chris Irwin is also working with his own consortium to try and salvage the troubled club, with the RFL announcing a decision on which bid has been successful on 17 December.

A mass player exodus, late wage payments and frequent appearances in the High Court over unpaid debts overshadowed a campaign in which they finished bottom of Super League.

Salford also lost their top-flight status in the end-of-year grading before last week's appearance saw the club wound up with their former owners unable to reach a deal to settle significant outstanding debts.

Despite the short turnaround to the start of the upcoming 2026 Championship campaign in mid-January, Caton-Brown said his bid had already made an effort to recruit personnel to be able to take to the field.

"We've already got a few agreements with some players and should this bid be successful we can turn them into concrete agreements with the players and I'm really confident we can get a full squad out on our first game," Caton-Brown added.

"We've got a coach lined up and he's really really enthusiastic and ready to go. He's been working a lot trying to talk to players as well.

"Everything's all up in the air but once we're concrete in our bid then we can start releasing names and everything."