what yacht?

Never seen one moored on t'cut beside the stadium.

So he is going to go in the future. So's everyone else.
Thanks for the last two years and the ooprtunity to watch Salford. Only Bradford fans will know as well the sickening feeling when you think you do not have a club.
Note to JC: your Toulouse fan base is not going to be boosted by upset Salfordians.

Wow there are some really slow people about.
I remember Marwan saying exactly the same thing the day he had his first meeting with the fans after taking over the club.
As hillbilly said if he walks tonight I will thank him for the extra couple of years I've had watching Rugby League.
I do wonder if part of Marwans frustration is the apathy of the Salford public and the lack of ambition in the sport to grow the game.
Plus the absolute fear of change some supporter's seem to have.

I think that sums it up quite well.

It must be massively frustrating to have the drive, ambition and cash to back his ideas, only to be thwarted by the restrictions that exist within the game.
Mind you, those constraints are not new and in one respect, it's quite comforting that you cant just buy success, it takes time.

However, IF, he is prepared to walk away, without success, it would be very brave of the Aussies to let him take control of the Titans.
Although the salary cap is significantly higher in Australia, many of the same type of constraints exist there, which may leave Dr K just
as frustrated if he were to be allowed to take them on ?

The talent roster at Gold Coast is far, far superior to that of Salford. Dr Marwan will be much happier with the performance of his Titans than with his Red Devils. He and his family can live happily ever after in the paradise of eastern Australia.

Salford to become feeder club for the Titans?

Unfortunately there is no talent in Salford to feed to the Titans.

In any case Titans willl have Daly Cherry-Evans next year, along with former Catalans captain Gregory Bird, and the fastest man in rugby league, James Roberts. Add to that star studded group PNG star and winger David Mead, full back Joshua Hoffman, and forwards Nathaniel Miles, David Taylor and Lukas Douglas, and you have a team capable of reaching great heights. All the while Dr Marwan Koukash's family lulls about on the sunny golden sands of the Gold Coast.

The only feeding that will be going on is of the giant prawns and succulent oysters being imbibed by the Koukashes at their favourite seaside restaurants.

JC your take on things is as always unique! Your saviour of RL in the Northern Hemisphere (Catalans) could only manage a draw at home to the rubbish(according to you) that is Salford! Marwan has stated a few times that other business interests will keep him living in the UK for at least another 2 years. As for the Koukash's living it up in sunny Australia, they had amble opportunity to move to Dubai ( spend every NY there) which has even better restaurants and where most off his business interests lie, yet for 30 years haven't.

I think the 2 things we can say safely are: he isn't going to own Salford for ever and he isn't moving to France!

I'll add another: DCE or no DCE, the Titans won't be worrying the big boys in the NRL any time soon.

Projected leaving Date for Marwan is approx 5pm on Sat 18th April !

Strange how so many people seem to want Salford to fail, not sure why.
As many have said, if it wasn't for Marwan we wouldn't be here today, if he walks away tomorrow we'd thank him for his time and start again.
Not much point worrying about something we have no control over. Just enjoy it while it lasts! You never know, good cup run, attendances start to rise, he may even decide to stay on?

I think it's because people fear he's flogging a very dead horse in a very vocal way.

He's made a bad choice of club and seems keen to blame everyone but himself for any issues encountered along the way.

Here's hoping Salford find their feet somehow and start pulling in the crowd needed to be a proper sl club but I have my doubts.

And why is the horse so dead?
I don't think there is a magic bullet, the crowds wont just come, and I don't think we'll ever see average 10k crowds. But 6k is realistic, if we can pull some wins together, get the marketing/pricing right, get a good feel around the club again. People under estimate how damaging the move to aj bell was, off the back of the false dawn "we will definitely make the 8", the stagnant mcrae era, followed by a really poor start at the new stadium which was a million miles away from what we were originally promised. All to easy for people to get in to the habit of not coming to the game. Add in to the equation another 2 false dawns since then, its going to take more than a couple of wins to get people to travel further than they were before to watch Salford.

But, if we do get a few things right, we do have a decent fan base. The future isn't as bleak as everyone is making out.

There is certainly potential for Salford to improve and certainly a regular top 6/ top 8 finish is possible in a relatively short time scale.
Also, there is nothing wrong with ambition.
Where Dr K has fallen down a little is, by making bold statements about how quickly success will come.
The other factor which will have put many fans off, from returning to watch, is the utter shambles of the match day parking which, when
new fans turn up (especially if they have young children), they just don't want a 1hour + wait, just to get out of the car park.

When we (Wakefield) played Salford last season, there was a bit of a buzz about the place and there were plenty of new fans and youngsters
that had come along to witness the revolution and IIRC a crowd of over 7000.

The stadium is good for viewing etc. and the only other hassle was the queue for tickets before you could enter the ground.

As many have already said, it's great to have a wealthy backer and if he can manage expectations and remains committed to the Salford
cause, the future looks bright.

Ignore the knockers, many of whom are just envious and enjoy your RL !

I don't think its a bad choice of club. I think his problem is that he has expected/demanded/implied/promised so much as soon as he took over. I think people took umbrage at the fact he reckon he could just splash a few quid and surpass clubs that have spend years building success (or indeed mediocrity)

Build from the bottom - get a solid squad, rather than a few washed up stars, get a decent home record (which they've actually got, now), get your strength and conditioning sorted so that you can 100% out of the players you have, build links with the community, ramp up your youth development and THEN sign Sonny Bill Williams and declare your abitions as a contender. IMO

I sell equipment to takeaways and was at a customers new venture. They've been open two weeks, going okay, but a little quiet, but they've held back on advertising and flyers until they've been open for a month. Why? Because if they got a flood of customer int heir first week and couldn't handle it, the bad service provided would damage chances of future trade. Better to get a bit of experience under their belt to make sure they're getting everything right, then getting the masses in.

Many may accuse Jean Capdouze of having a hidden agenda behind his posts but I'm afraid that he just isn't intelligent enough to keep it hidden properly. If he tries harder he might just make it to the level of a forum troll

I think you're right, but that's just Koukash and he aint gonna change! He's used to success and expects it, and now. There is the perfect example to follow just down the road at Warrington, am sure Simon Moran is a very amiable fellow, very successful self made man too. I'm sure he would give Marwan great advise on how to build a club not just a team.

But as I say I don't think Marwan will change so we are where we are, and where we are is a lot better than where we would be without him.

I like him. I like that he's jumped in with both feet. I like that he puts his money where his mouth is. I like that he is passionate about RL. I like that fact that he comes up with ambitious and crazy ideas to expand the game, even if 99% of them aren't feasible. At least he's having a go.

In a city such as Manchester ,with two very successful soccer clubs ,it is always going to be difficult for Salford to compete for fans.The Manchester people that I meet ,if they talk about sport ,it is always soccer ,they have little interest in anything else.

Salford RL reflect the city in that respect. I mean, what is Salford, really? As much as I respect and will defend to the hills the identity of a place against its "administrative oppressor" such as Leigh re: Wigan, Castleford re: Wakefield, even St Helens re: Liverpool.

It seems Salford (the place) has lost the battle, and I can't tell where Salford starts and Manchester ends both geographically and spirituality. Therefore any love for RL is going to decline.

Any Salfordians care to put the record straight?

I agree that part of the problem that Salford faces beyond other RL 'towns' (yes I know that it's a city) is the definition of Salford itself and its identity.

Although a Warringtonian, I have lived in various parts of the city for many years and would suggest that its relationship with Manchester isn't exactly like Leigh and Wigan. From an administrative POV they are separate authorities after all, although I do concede that there is an economic pull that Manchester exerts over Salford and of course more than a passing interest in both United and United reserves for many Salfordians.

I think that the biggest hurdle in establishing Salford as a community club lies in the make up of the city itself, it's a big place and for mine, the trick will be to engage with and attract people in geographically diverse places such as Cadishead, Worsley and Broughton in addition to re engaging with people from areas that were probably the mainstay of support at the Willows, the folk that could walk to the old ground from Weaste, Seedley and the Height.

You only have to follow the forum chatter on the state and location of the Stadium to realise that this is no small task as far as support is concerned. However, you do wonder if Koukash's interest was sparked initially by that very thing and other potential development opportunities? Perhaps the reticence of other wheeler dealers to play ball with him, might be colouring his view on his longer term commitment?

Anyone who crafts a team mascot in his own image is unlikely to be the level headed type of owner needed to grow a club from the bottom up.

He's in it for quick wins, hype and media profile together with a bit of a messiah complex as the saviour of Salford. He's now upset his master plan appears to be not quite as masterful as he thought.

I'm all for people with money coming into the game. But that doesn't mean you can't point out flaws, nor does it mean that all money men are automatically a good thing. The right thing for Salford may have been to rebuild in the championship and hope to come back stronger, in a way that Bradford hopefully will. I still think they'll end up there fairly soon after koukash decides he's bored and fancies the more glamorous nrl.

Salford may well end up in a worse place for his stewardship - who knows. I hope not.

Salford are already in a worse place, but that had nothing to do with Koukash and everything to do with whoever chose the site for the new stadium. Koukash's money at the Willows would have been a far easier sell.

The Willows was a dump. It had no use for developing a club. The problem with the new stadium A. J. Bell is its location combined with lack of easy access.

The only solution is for Dr Marwan Koukash to build a large commercial retail with ample parking beside the stadium, and to get permission for a private Dubai-based company to create a light rail system that accesses the stadium from central Manchester and Salford Quays. Then you will find the attendances at A. J. Bell rising precipitously.

It's going to require patience but the site of the AJ Bell will get better if all the planned developments between Trafford Centre and Irlam go ahead. Peel Holdings have submitted planning for "Trafford Water" which will bring a lot more housing and amenities to the area while the road networks are also being vastly improved with new bridges over the canal. Unfortunately I don't think Marwan will stick around for long enough to see it, which is a shame as I do think with a bit of luck Salford have potential to be a top 4 team

Yet again way off the mark! "Build a large commerical retail centre" with one of the largest in the Europe less than a mile away? "Dubai based company to build a light rail link too it". The bridge to connect the stadium to said retail development is in construction and funding has been approved ( and initial ground work started) for said light rail link (ie tram). I assume Toulouse and Catalan have same infrastructure (as you demand) underway?