The notion of Salford walking out on Friday night to play their game against Leigh may seem to casual observers like a positive step, given they failed to fulfil their recent fixture against Wakefield and seem engulfed in a perma-crisis.

In hindsight, the Salford warning signs were there last winter when the club requested an advance of £500,000 on their central distribution to survive the off-season. “We should have seen the wolves were at the door then,” one Super League chief executive said this week.

A long-awaited takeover, led by the businessman Dario Berta in February, was supposed to end the uncertainty. If anything, it has only worsened it. Staff have routinely been paid late and Salford have had to let the majority of their first-team squad leave to stay afloat.

They will rely predominantly on a squad of youngsters and loan players borrowed from other Super League clubs to get through to the end of the season. Their owners have not done a single public interview since arriving despite countless requests. That is only the tip of the iceberg. The takeover involved acquiring Salford Community Stadium and surrounding land. Clearing the club’s debts and stabilising it was part of the deal. So, when Salford city council walked away from a deal to sell the stadium to the club this summer, it left them in greater limbo than ever.

Salford’s away support, among the best in Super League in recent years, has also been decimated – perhaps unsurprisingly given what they have been put through this season. But the couple of hundred who were at Leigh on Friday night certainly made themselves heard, with songs against the ownership group pre-match.

On the field, their patched-up squad, which included nine loanees and some signed on the day of the game, did not disgrace themselves. They actually led Leigh at one stage here but you always felt that Leigh would eventually pull clear given their experience. That proved to be the case, with the Leopards winning 38-6 but Salford’s owners should look at how their players performed and be inspired to take action and save this famous club.

Salford’s owners have promised for months that a multi-million pound bridging loan will arrive, which may tempt the council back into stadium talks, but it is nowhere to be seen. The Guardian has been told that Saia Kailahi and Curtis Brown, the two members of the consortium running the Red Devils day to day, are seriously considering stepping away in the near future.

A Salford fans’ banner with a message to the owners during the Super League match at Wigan Warriors in May. Photograph: Alun Roberts/ProSports/Shutterstock

This is a club who finished fourth in Super League last year but, on the pitch, they are unrecognisable. All their best players have left for other clubs and insiders have insisted there are non-playing staff now considering doing the same, their wellbeing undone by continued uncertainty over whether they will be paid on time, or even at all.

The situation will reach a head in the next fortnight. Salford have been using payday loan companies to meet the payroll. Debts are now understood to be in excess of £3m. The crucial bridging loan has been promised by the owners for months but now it simply has to arrive. If it does, then the projected plan is for Kailahi and Brown to move aside and bring in someone new to run the club.

Salford staved off the threat of a winding-up order from HMRC earlier this year but they are in court again on 3 September when that petition will be heard. They also have another payroll to meet next week for August. Without that promised loan arriving and giving the Red Devils breathing space, things will take a turn for the worse.

Political pressure is brewing too. A supporters’ group has been formed, with a protest taking place last Sunday despite the Wakefield game being off. Another will take place at their next home game. That group met the owners this week, and the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is also determined to do the same to understand what happens next. A push to remove the owners is not inconceivable.

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But there is a general acceptance among staff at the Red Devils that their time in Super League is drawing to a close for now, even if those long-awaited financial promises do materialise. IMG’s gradings system – in which Salford were ranked 12th last year – will determine 12 of the 14 clubs that play in Super League in 2026, with the other two chosen by an independent panel.

Salford fans still turned up to support their team last night, while also protesting against the owners. Photograph: Nigel French/PA

Privately, Salford expect to be outside the top 12 this year. They will be deducted points in their IMG ranking thanks to at least one breach of the Rugby Football League’s operational rules, and with Championship sides including York and Toulouse set to dramatically increase their score, it will leave Salford at the mercy of that aforementioned panel.

The problem? The criteria for election to Super League will revolve heavily around long-term financial stability and detailed forecasts. The Red Devils will apply to be part of the process, the Guardian has been told, but there is an acceptance they have next to no chance of being considered. So it is likely life next season will be in the Championship, and that is the best-case scenario. The alternative is almost unthinkable, 150 years of history disappearing.

Salford will continue to fulfil their games, as the sport scrambles them through to the end of this campaign to avoid a logistical and reputational disaster. But the real story, the future facing the club, is now only days away from becoming clear.