Former Salford chief, whose house is on the line, returns in bid to save club

SALFORD’S former boss has returned as he looks to save the club – and his house.

Paul King left after the Red Devils were taken over by Sire Kailahi and Curtiz Brown.

But after it turned into a disaster, with administration or a winding up order looming, he has come back to try and make sure it survives.

Any sale or saving of the club would also in turn save his home, which he has put up as a guarantee against loans taken out both last year and this.

Now SunSport can reveal they are said to owe payday loan firms a staggering £1.1 million, with £900,000 alone to Oldham-based WeDo Finance.

On top of that, HMRC are £500,000 short – which is most likely to see action – and the Rugby Football League a similar sum.

Then there are operating costs as well, pushing the total to somewhere between £2.5 million and £3 million.

SunSport has learned two parties are interested in Salford, NRL side Sydney Roosters and one UK-based group.

However, it is thought the Australians’ bid depends on whether the stadium is involved and the competition Down Under buys into Super League.

Officially, Kailahi and Brown are still working towards a stadium and land deal, which would finance their ‘Salford project.’

However, the city’s council, which currently owns it, is said to have set a deadline after seeing the mess they have made of the club, with the man they brought in to run it, chief executive Chris Irwin, sacked.

Meanwhile, the Rugby Football League has put up a wall of silence around how Kailahi and Brown passed the fit and proper persons’ test.

Several questions were put to the governing body but it insisted it would not comment as, ‘the view is details of process are confidential.’