Devils job to keep top boss

IAN BLEASE admits he has a fight on his hands to keep highly-rated Salford coach Ian Watson.

Watson led the Red Devils to Saturday’s Challenge Cup final, a year after a shock Grand Final appearance.

And Blease (above), the club’s director of rugby, is bracing himself for possible swoops for the man he calls a magician.

Blease said: “Someone is going to come knocking at some point, so we need to match Ian’s ambition.

“We have had many conversations with players over the years, saying the grass is not always greener elsewhere and we’ve seen it happen.

“Ian has now got to be careful it doesn’t happen to him. At some stage he will be thinking, ‘What do I do?’ but I hope his answer will be staying yg with us. He can chase his dreams with us and hopefully we can go on and win things and he will be immortalised and will get the freedom of the city.”

Watson (above, left) is contracted until the end of 2022 and Blease hopes he can give him the players and the funds in that time to make Salford regular trophy contenders.

He added: “We want to now spend the full salary cap. Hopefully if we can do that we can match Ian’s ambitions and keep him happy.”

Salford lost Wembley’s showdown with Leeds 17-16, to a late Luke Gale drop goal. No fans were allowed and Blease hopes the continuing effects of Covid-19 don’t wreck their chances of boosting their fan base.

Their average crowd last year of just over 4,000 was the lowest in Super League but Covid has denied them the chance to build on the feelgood factor of two finals in 12 months.