Thursday 7 July 2016 12:14, UK
Salford have lost their appeal against a six-point penalty for breaching the Super League salary cap regulations.
The independent body Sport Resolutions upheld the decision by an independent Rugby Football League tribunal in April that found the Red Devils guilty of breaching the £1.825m salary cap in the 2014 season.
The appeal was heard in Manchester on Wednesday and a verdict announced on Thursday morning.
"It's very disappointing," said Salford owner Marwan Koukash, who personally presented his club's case.
"At the end of the day, although we demonstrated that we haven't broken the salary cap and in many ways the RFL has accepted that, the centre point is that I broke the operational rules, which is not declaring three payments back in 2013, to which I hold my hand up."
The tribunal also upheld a £5,000 fine imposed on Salford alongside the points deduction.
The club was found guilty of seeking to avoid declaring payments made to former St Helens forward Tony Puletua by entering into a contract with the player via another company associated with the club, and of the non-declaration of benefits to two other players, Lami Tasi and Theo Fages.
An RFL spokesperson said on Thursday morning: "The decision today from Sport Resolutions clearly shows that the RFL disciplinary process is robust and fair.
"It is of utmost importance that clubs adhere to the salary cap and that if they are found to have broken it they are held to account.
"As we have previously stated and agreed we see this decision as final and binding and hope all parties involved can now focus on the rest of the season."
A defiant Koukash, however, told Sky Sports News HQ that the RFL had made mistakes in its own logs of Salford's player salaries.
"You can't have the players who are on loan to other clubs counting on our cap, you can't have players on our log that have been de-registered," he said.
"The salary cap is fundamental to the competition. Maintaining accurate records for that cap is very, very important and the RFL will have a lot of questions to answer, because this is not going to go away.
"It is unjust. OK, we've done something wrong, not declared the payments, but is that really worth the six points deduction?
"Once I get the written judgement I'm going to run it past my QC. It's not going to end there.
"It might be the end for us as far as getting the six points to enable us to compete in the top eight but my fight with the RFL is not over."
