SALFORD REDS WILL SURVIVE: Phil

PHIL VEIVERS is certain Salford will win a stay of execution today.

The City Reds face a court winding up order this morning with debts of £600,000.

But Australian coach Veivers says he is hopeful that the case will be adjourned and the club will be bought later this month.

He said: “I cannot change what tomorrow brings, we will just wait and see. But what I am hoping for is very simple, I am very optimistic.

“Things have been as difficult as you would expect but I have to give the players the credit they deserve.

“They have turned up at training in the right frame of mind and 

  ABOVE: Salford Reds coach Phil Veivers      trained with intensity.”

Salford cruised through their first pre-season match yesterday, beating Championship side Swinton 52-12.

They had to cancel an earlier game against Leigh because Veivers could not raise a full team.

And with the club’s bank accounts frozen, he has been unable to sign any new players despite a raft of first-teamers leaving the club.

But, if a buyer steps in, he insists he has new signings lined up ahead of their opening Super League game against Wigan on February 1.

Veivers said: “I am quite happy with the kind of players who are willing to come here and play.

“What I’m not happy about is not knowing what money I have got to throw at them.”

The RFL will have further talks today with a consortium who are believed to be seriously interested in pumping in money and taking over the club.

Salford chairman John Wilkinson is hopeful that the winding up case will be adjourned until discussions have reached a conclusion.

He said: “I think we will be okay. We want to get an adjournment which I am convinced we will get.

“It gives more time for the investors to look at where they are up to. We are looking at getting everything into position in January.”

Martin Gleeson played as a trialist for Salford yesterday, his first game after a two-year drugs ban.

He will sign a two-year deal if new investors come in. Daily Star