Challenge Cup Final Preview #2: I dreamed a dream by the old canal

Things like this don't happen to teams like Salford. Sport is dominated by power and money. The richest clubs are meant to squash the smaller competition and harvest their resources.

Richer clubs have had a particularly ripe harvest over the last few years courtesy of the club. Josh Jones, Jake Bibby, Jackson Hastings, Robert Lui, Craig Kopczak, Lama Tasi, Ben Murdoch-Masila and Theo Fages are just some of the Salford stalwarts who have left for pastures new during Ian Watson's time as head coach. But the club has refused to be squashed despite being unable to compete with the money and stability offered by other clubs. 

Nobody predicted that Salford would have made the last two showpiece rugby league finals in the northern hemisphere. A squad of second-chances and last-chances have reached yet another final. In 2019, Salford made the Grand Final and put up a mighty brave fight, only to be denied by a St Helens team who were irrepressible following their Wembley heartbreak.

When you think of joyous moments and Salford, you may once have thought of Gareth O' Brien launching a 45+ metre drop goal to preserve Salford's Super League status. The image of Salford fans streaming onto the field in delight, and then-owner Marwan Koukash brandishing a giant, novelty cheque in the sum of £1M 'signed' by 'Fat Nigel' of Red Hall.

One man who was not dancing a jig at Craven Park that day was Ian Watson. He was possibly the only man in Salford colours who was not. Throughout the whole game, he remained pensive and even when survival was confirmed, the overwhelming feeling that exuded did not appear to be celebration.

There are two ways of looking at it. Ian Watson is not the sort of coach who wears his heart on his sleeve. His approach appears calm, methodical, to be based upon control and one which focuses on outcomes. The other view is that Ian Watson was not satisfied for his home-town club to be one which celebrates achieving the bare minimum. Perhaps both are true.

After that, the minimum was not enough. In 2017, Watson fell short of a top-four play off spot with Salford in the final few rounds of the season and fell short of a Challenge Cup Final with semi final defeat against Wigan. An underdog can have a good year, so it was dismissed as a one-off.

In 2019, Salford finished 3rd in Super League, achieving their highest ever finish in the competition. They defied the fate of other clubs who unexpectedly reached the play-offs and made the Grand Final courtesy of a comfortable victory over Wigan. It was becoming harder to dismiss this as a one off.

In 2020, Salford have not enjoyed the same success in Super League, but have defeated the sides currently in 4th and 5th place in the competition to reach the Challenge Cup final. This is not a one-off. 

Against all the odds, against the backdrop of a perilous financial position and their club being victims of an annual autumnal harvest of their top talent, Salford Red Devils are now a side that are making competing for trophies a habit.

They have taken a huge step, but the biggest one is yet to come. On Saturday, Salford aim for their first major trophy since 1976 and their first Challenge Cup triumph since 1938.

In the last few years, dogged by an inconsistent squad, the one consistent at the club has been Ian Watson. He has broken with the spend-or-bust approach of the Koukash era and reigned in his own era of sustainability and make-do-and-mend, providing a model for less well-resourced clubs to challenge for honours.

Watson is without doubt attracting interest from some other clubs. It is well-publicised that Watson was a leading contender for the vacant St Helens job last year. With Adrian Lam out of contract at Wigan this year, it is not impossible that they may come sniffing too.

For now, Watson appears to have a laser-like focus on guiding his team to a historic success. The dirty old town is going to the big smoke and the sporting palace of England. We will soon discover whether sporting fairytales do come true and whether dreams that were dreamed by the old canal can become reality.

Whilst your here...make sure to read our other preview blog:
Richard Agar: Following Family Footsteps

We will also be publishing two more blogs in our Cup Final preview series on Wednesday and Thursday, so do check back here for more!