Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash will not walk away from the club and is to enlist the help of Australia’s national coach Tim Sheens in an effort to turn around their fortunes.
The multi-millionaire racehorse owner sparked off fevered speculation over his future with the Red Devils in the wake of last Thursday’s crushing 52-6 defeat by St Helens in their opening home First Utility Super League match of the season by tweeting: “I have had enough”.
Koukash then went to ground but emerged on Monday to insist he remains fully committed to the club.
He told Press Association Sport the position of head coach Iestyn Harris is not under threat. Indeed, he will be given “additional resources” if necessary.
Koukash, who ploughed between £3million and £4million in his first two years in charge of the Salford club, also revealed his plans to bring Sheens over from Australia to provide him with advice and help put new structures in place.
Of his famous tweet, Koukash said: “I don’t want to discuss that publicly. I discussed it with my boys this morning. We had a great meeting and whatever was discussed in-house is going to stay private.
“I’m not walking out on the club. We’re going to come out fighting. I’m going to work harder and if Iestyn wants additional resources he will have them at his disposal.
“And also a friend of mine will be visiting me soon, to look around the club and give me his opinion. I’m not the most experienced person in rugby league – I’ve only been in the sport for three years – and sometimes I need extra help.
“That friend is Tim Sheens, who will visit me for three weeks and advise me on various bits and pieces and help put some systems and structures into the club.”
Koukash, a regular visitor to Australia, says he expects Sheens to arrive for a pre-arranged visit by the end of the month and insists his presence will not threaten the position of Harris.
“He’s not coming for any other reason but to look at the club as a friend to help me out,” Koukash said.
Sheens, 64, who has been Australia coach since 2009, is still waiting to be re-appointed for this year’s Anzac Test against New Zealand.
He has been free of club commitments since leaving Wests Tigers at the end of the 2012 season.
Koukash, who rescued Salford from the threat of bankruptcy just over two years ago, virtually re-built the squad ahead of the 2014 season and added a host of fresh players for the new campaign in the hope of securing at least a play-off spot.
However, they are bottom of the table after losing their first two games against Warrington Wolves and St Helens, and have been hit by injuries to star overseas signings Kevin Locke, Michael Dobson and Cory Paterson.
Despite his tweet, Koukash says he has not lost his faith in the players and revealed how they were close to tears after Thursday’s 10-try mauling.
“I saw how the players were after that performance, some were close to tears,” he said.
“I went into the dressing room and shook the hand of each player and I’ve told them it is only them who can give me success. They are far too good a group of individuals to be losing a game 52-6.
“I know, despite what was said on social media, that they tried. Things didn’t go their way. Sometimes when you lose key players, it is not easy to recover from it.”