Castleford Tigers owner Martin Jepson expresses frustration at 'unfair' handling of Salford Red Devils situation

Jepson is furious that Salford, who had a £1.2million squad limit reimposed after failing to deliver their February payroll, have nevertheless been granted dispensation to name three new players, including captain Kallum Watkins and star half-back Marc Sneyd – in their 17-man squad.

It means that provided the Salford players – who were still awaiting payment on Thursday afternoon – agree to play, Paul Rowley’s men will start with a virtually full-strength side as both clubs seek their first win of the season so far.

Jepson told the PA news agency: “I don’t think it’s fair. They’ve been able to bring in three England internationals for players who are suspended.

“I don’t understand how that fits in with the salary-cap regulations. They are using the regulations to get around match suspensions that are meant to be being served by those players, and it doesn’t make sense.”

Salford were initially sanctioned at the start of the season due to a protracted takeover saga, and controversially fielded a youth team in their opening Super League match at St Helens, which they lost by a competition record 82-0.

Technically, Salford are unable to bring in any more players who did not feature in the Challenge Cup game against Midlands Hurricanes last month. But they managed to convince the RFL in a series of meetings this week that without the dispensation, they would not be able to raise a team.

The issue is further complicated by reports that a number of Salford players have refused to play or train until their wages are paid. While the club are now confident they will have enough players to fulfil the fixture, this comes as no solace to Jepson.

“This is taking up a huge amount of my time at the moment and it shouldn’t be my problem,” he added. “Whatever happens tomorrow (Friday), we can’t really win. We’ve been brought into this situation and it’s not of our making.

“At the moment I’m struggling to sell tickets for tomorrow’s match because nobody knows what kind of team is going to be turning up. We are relying on the players being paid tomorrow to make sure there is a game. I’m relying on promises that have been made by Salford regarding salaries that are nothing to do with me.”

Jepson completed his takeover of Castleford in November last year warning that the finances of rugby league clubs across the board were in a “pretty miserable state”.

And he believes the ongoing Salford saga has cast another negative light on the sport less than a week after the hyperbole surrounding Wigan’s clash with Warrington in Las Vegas.

“It’s something we don’t need and it’s something that should not have been allowed to get to this stage,” added Jepson.

“It takes a lot of the gloss off. It’s been a massive distraction for the game over the last six months. I’m very annoyed and I think a lot of other clubs have been very annoyed about it too.”