They had to tone it down for 'health and safety', due to fears that the smoke could cause a repeat of the big motorway accident last year. Not really sure how much bigger in scale it was supposed to be.

Should've used flames like Widnes. Simple, but more dramatic.

According to Sporting Life the crowd was 5,242

and BBC.

I'm not usually one to bite, but the attendance was actually 5242, so over a thousand more than you assumed. Given the horrendous weather, I'd say that it was a fairly good attendance. I'm aware of many fans who had been planning to go but when the snow fell, decided to stay at home and watch it on TV in the warmth and spare themselves driving to the game in hazardous conditions and sit/stand about in the cold watching the game for 80mins.

Sky reported the attendance as around 4,500.

I assume the Stobart trailers in the area were covered in snow so nobody could see the SL ads? Hence the disappointing turnout.

I assume the freezing temperatures and the fact most people were covered in 4cms of snow had something to do with it. Being stuck in a RL ground isn't fun.

It was, Eddie Wighead mentioned his name in commentary IIRC.

The fireworks were massively toned down... and I know that the ones in front of me developed a fault... Apparently due to the snow fall... I'm not sure how well snow and fireworks mix... But they couldn't then be moved until they had activated by all accounts.

Fair weather support isn't real support.

Any "New Stadium, New Era" pretentions Salford had of emerging as a big club with healthy support and a force to be reckoned with in SL was ruthlessly exposed as complete bollox tonight.

They should be in the Championship. That's their level.

Bad support looks even worse in seater stadiums with the rows of empty seats. it never looks too bad when most the ground is terracing and people are spread evenly. hope there crowds improve but it looks like theyll be getting the same old mediocre crap as at the willows.

think the turn out from us in these weather conditions were pretty sweet. driving conditions were horrific, took 45 mins to get out of their car park. Overall, salford's ground is pretty simplistic, but I like it. Fairly close to the pitch still, stood up, decent rugby league ground. Would like us to be playing in something similar 1 day.

The conditions were appalling tonight.... And had I known when I set out for the game what I know now... I may have stayed in and watched it on TV myself... I'm still trying to get warm. You cannot judge the potential of a new stadium on one game... In atrocious conditions... Sub zero temperatures... Live on TV... We pulled on over 10,000 for the last game at The Willows... Would you judge our potential on that one game ?... I wouldn't.... So I won't judge it on this one. If we have a poor overall showing at the end of the first season... Then I'll accept your point.

Did you go or watch on tv?

Salford had wanted to put on a proper display but decided against doing so because of that fatal crash on a motorway which was thought to have been caused by a nearby firework display at an RU club.

It was a real shame that the opening game was spoiled by the weather. However, Holdsworth and Patten must be two of the most useless players in Superleague at present! If Salford could find another halfback to partner Smith and another fullback, along with another Feka type prop, they would have performed much better today and likely won.

Salford's final try was a beauty.

The opening 'ceremony' was about as entertaining as the game itself; the potical spectacle of one bloke with a wheelbarrow delaying the KO reminded me of last season's footage of the kit woman at Halifax unlocking her cupboard to give Cas some jumpers.

Did the function of the poor bloke kneeling down on the pitch in sub-zero temperatures ever become clear?

What appeared to be just one bloke strolling around with no sense of urgency collecting the fireworks was embarassing. As for the size of the crowd, where's this mean-spirited glee at the though of failure come from? Personally I'd say the size of the crowd has everything to do with the terrible weather and little else.

I dunno if its just classic parochialism but there's some that seem to relish the idea of Salford going bust somewhere down the line. RL fans are a bit weird sometimes.

Or just a bit wary of past protestations of 10,000 crowds with a new stadium built (John Wilkinson's words, not mine). The moaning and groaning is pretty typical of your average cynical RL fan but they've been led down the garden path many many times by Chairmen and the games rulers to be anything else.

The margin meter on Friday was a typical example.
Your average fan: "What's all this bollax from that idiot Clarke".
The Sky commentary team "Wow, it's trending on twitter".

You see the massive gulf in outlook? By the way, it was trending because people were ridiculing it.

Salford will get the same averages as they've always done. This particular new stadium will not improve their position in that regard. Winning back to back Grand Finals may net JW his 10,000 avarege. Up the Reds!!!

Huddersfield is a good model for how it could all go right. Not so long ago a disillusioned fanbase, sick of watching the Giants always losing, singularly failed to turn up in any numbers. Steadily the team became competitive and the fanbase crept up to a really healthy level.

For me that's the model that Salford need to aspire toward. Whether Wilkinson has the same wealth as Davey I presume not?

I'd love to see a strong club in the Manchester area drawing big crowds...but the weather can only be partly blamed for Salfords poor crowd. For a big 'event' like the opening of a new ground, most fans should have been encouraged by marketing to buy tickets/season tickets in advance...and the majority of those would have got to the ground no matter what the weather had they already paid.

instead it looked as though it was the same die-hards that Salford previously attracted to The Willows, and nobody new has been attracted to the game.

Many will disagree with this, but what exactly do Salford have to entice in people who fundamentally see sport as having a pyramid system that has teams playing either to win something or to avoid relegation

Salford last entered SL 3 years ago, how many games have they won since? , are their fans going to see them win any more in the next 3 years than they did in the last 3 ?

I am constantly ridiculed and my opinions devalued by suggesting I am bitter that my club aren't in SL, why would I want Leigh to be in the same position as Salford? , how can you be expected to build a club in their position? , their season is esentially over already, they will be battling with Widnes to avoid the wooden spoon , a trophy in itself that no longer has the ' value ' to avoid

The lack of P and R will ultimatly damage the game, both at Championship level, and SL level

It wasn't helped by the club seemingly throwing the majority of their marketing eggs in a campaign that started 3 days before the game.

Would that be to the detriment of FC?

Just what positives do Salford have to use as a marketing tool to entice new / ex fans?

A few years ago you could have said nearly all of that about Huddersfield.

The problem is Iain, even if as they should have done and given out 10,000 free tickets, the weather would have still decimated the attendance, I really think JW must have run over a whole box load of black cats