Ian can chase his dreams with us
SALFORD CHIEF FIGHTS TO KEEP WATSON
IAN BLEASE admits he has a fight on his hands to keep highlyrated Salford coach Ian Watson.
Watson led the Red Devils to Saturday’s Challenge Cup final, a year after a shock Grand Final appearance, and director of rugby Blease is now bracing himself for possible swoops on 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.
“The two of us 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 that 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 with us.
“He can chase his dreams with us. Hopefully we can now go on to win things and he will be immortalised and will get the freedom of the city.” Watson 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 said: “We are still tight b****** and I don’t believe in over spending on players that aren’t worth it but we want to now spend the full salary cap.
“Getting to finals allows us to attract new business and we’ve now got agents ringing up offering players.
“We are a club that has to keep rebuilding but hopefully if we can spend the full cap we can match
Ian’s ambitions and keep him happy.” No fans were allowed in Wembley for Salford’s agonising 17- 16 defeat by Leeds and Blease hopes the effects of Covid- 19 do not wreck their chances of boosting their fan base.
The Red Devils’ average crowd last year of just over 4,000 was the lowest in Super League but the pandemic has denied them the chance to build on the feel- good factor of two finals in 12 months.
He said: “The support we have is tremendous but we need more. We took 20,000 to the Grand Final and I’m convinced we’d have had 30,000 at Wembley.
“They’re saying we can’t have crowds in until next April which means we’re definitely going to suffer. I’m not sure how we can all survive without another rescue package from the Government.”