Super League Salford City Reds Owner Marwan Koukash has called for a raising of the Super League salary cap to "enable him to pack his side with big-name players," according to Ian Laybourn of the London TELEGRAPH. Koukash said that his attempt to transform the club's fortunes are "in danger of being stifled by the cap on players’ wages, pointing to the disparities at the recent World Club Challenge to press his case for change." Koukash said, “How could the World Club Challenge be a fair contest when you’ve got Melbourne operating with a £3.5 million cap and Leeds operating on a £1.8 million cap? That’s not fair." Koukash has spoken about "trying to bring back the players the club lost during their financial troubles." He also wants the salary cap regulations amended so that exceptions could be made for “special players” and those from rugby union. He said, "If I want to recruit the best player in rugby league, I should be allowed to do so and clubs should be allowed to recruit one or two players -- special players -- from outside the cap. That way you could reverse the process of losing players to rugby union or even recruit the better players from rugby union" (TELEGRAPH, 3/5).
