Think its time for salford and swinton to become east manchester and oldham and rochdale west manchester? Just posing a question, at least they would all have stadiums where only 2 have at the moment.
The other option is become one manchester team and pool all resources?

Jonny, do you think Leigh should sell up and merge with Wigan Warriors, using the LSV as a training base and academy base for the SL giants? Thought not...

Im happy in the championship, its salford
that lied to get into SL. Oldham and swinton havnt got grounds and rochdale ate
skint. Not exactly ideal is it? But thanks for
thinking for me, glad we share the same opinion brains.

Logic, common sense and Rugby League!!!

Which is the odd one out?

Im just asking a question, because at the current rate there wont be any manchester teams soon.

Far too much History in them teams to merge them into one. Some of them have even won the challenge cup and championship in the past if memory serves well.

However I do think that the RFL should push for a central Manchester rugby league team Called Manchester Monkeys or something like that. It would make much more sense than merging them four together!

Without doubt, this is the stoopidist idea I've ever heard.



Why? Let's start with the fact that Salford and Swinton are West (west north west if being pedantic) of Manchester!

You knew what i meant east and west, dont be pedantic, fact is all 4 are struggling and salfords stadium is a lie, everyone knows theyre out for probably widnes at the next SL applications, then, tradition or history aside, probably 3 of those teams will die.

There's more chance of Labour getting re-elected than Salfords new stadium ever getting built. As for Oldham they have NO future at all without a ground. Swinton and Rochdale might prosper again though, why not?

Jonny I don't know why you got a bit of stick for that idea. It may not be ideal for the fans but your only thinking about helping the clubs out as their futures are in serious threat.

Rochdale, Oldham and Swinton are effectively dead. There is only the carcass left to pick at.

Salford are on life support at the moment and when the new stadium fails to materialise then they too will die. West of the pennines RL will have been forced out of the cities and will only exist in the smaller towns. Even there it is under pressure with premier league football teams surrounding that territory on three sides and one cuckoo in the nest.

At last! Some support! I just think it might be better to be proactive and try to save the game in manc before its too late, york, carlisle, bramley and liverpool had history but no-one cared when they went ping. Where theyd play is another discussion with numerous satellite grounds good enough, gigg lane and spotland are ideal but maybe too far away from the city?

When they went what?

Luckily York bounced back big time big time but sadly Bramley and to a much bigger extent Carlisle were lost to the professional game. Carlisle were a very sad loss.
My in-laws live in Middleton which is alledgedly in the RL heartlands being Very near Rochdale and Oldham and only a few miles from the RL Hopwood Hall school of excellence. Sad to say the game isn't even on the radar in Manchester, it's not talked about, not really watched much in Pubs and it took me 5 attempts once at various different newsagents to find a League Express. My large extended family in Manchester very rarely talk about and have very little understanding of RL. I hope the Reds can last till they (if ever they do) move into the new stadium at Barton.

I think there'd be more chance out of manchester than in it to be honest.
Sale and the Ice hockey team are both out of manchester

Manchester is almost as bad as Liverpool for support or even interest in RL. It hasn't changed since the game began over a century ago. Why should it change now ? Because of SKY TV ?

Too true. Live in Manchester at moment. Very rare to find anyone with a remote interest in RL. It's all about football. Play for one of the Unis in Manchester. Pretty much all of us are from RL heartlands, with i think 1 from Manc.

Rugby League isn't popular in Manchester, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be.

The 2nd most important media location in England, the economic powerhouse of the North West of England, a huge student population - Rugby League really needs to be pushed to the people of Manchester. The lack of a new stadium for Salford though, probably would kill it all off. Whilst I quite like the Willows as a ground, its not exactly in the most salubrious location... then again, Barton is a bit far out from the city centre for the corporate crowd.

Not gonna happen though is it.

Worst case scenario is Salford water down the plans for Barton and end up in a mediocre 12,000 capacity stadium that dosen't truly excite. They need to have some WOW factor at Barton. It really needs to be a modern state of the Art stadium that can lay down a marker for RL in Manchester!

yeah with a retracting roof & a big arch

Im stating the obvious in that you have got your east and west confused.

As for two towns North of Manchester merging to become 'East Manchester' and play out of Rochdale. We are onto a winner with that one

As a Salford fan who lives in Rochdale and has coached Rugby League in Oldham, I feel I can see it from 3 perspectives. The answer is no.

Simply to insert a "" club into a soccer-mad area and cut away the only clubs with any link to the communities is simply mad.
It betrays a lack of knowledge of the disparate communities within the conurbation: no body from Oldham or Rochdale sees themselves as a Manc: Manchester is the big city o'er there. Salford has a proud history it does not want to lose.

If this idea had any legs, there already would have been one team in Wigan once Leigh ran into problems, and one team in Salford, once Swinton ran into trouble. This did not happen as cvommuniities create clubs not vice-versa.

Salford are making inroads into north-west Manchester but it will be a long process. Kitting out aJamaican student team with the Red kit was a subtle but effective way of reaching one community in Manchester.

Leigh fans commenting on Salford ...

Swinton and Salford should merge to become Salford City Lions.
There's potential for a big city club, forget the 400 that might be put off, current Swinton fans and appeal to the whole Salford city region, dare I say it, Crusaders style. Nice shiny stadium, your academy plays under swinton with dual reg players but by god they've got to do bleedin somethin

You mean move to Cheltenham after one SL season.

edit: I don't see the point really. Swinton Lions's long term future (along with many other once proud heartland clubs) may be an NL3 style comp along with some expansion teams wanting to step up into the semi-pro leagues.

But merger with Salford? That wouldn't be a merger, it would just be the death of the Lions.

No I mean the excellent marketing they used to get 10000 through the gate on game one