This is an excellently well thought out post. I agree with much that you say and can easily fit this into the workings of my club Swinton and many other clubs.Sadly Rugby league in this area and around the north of England lives under the shadow of Association Football and like it or not when we have two teams such as Utd and City in the area then attracting spectators is made a whole lot more difficult, even more so now with the state of the country.
I don't agree with your comment about the National leagues and "Salford Dying" if they returned there as whilst the game maybe slower in those leagues it is played in a very honest manor by some really good lads who lets face it arn't at Super league clubs because most of these clubs have a fixation with all things antipodean, one of the reasons we have struggled for many years in trying to build a strong National side and which is proving to be more difficult with the introduction of players like Rangi Chase.(That's by no means meant in disrespect to Mr Chase)
There is no doubt that sadly for Salford there will be supporters who as you stated used to stroll down on a Friday or Sunday as the club was round the corner, who will no longer continue to attend every match whether or not these will be replaced by new support from the Irlam area remains to be seen.The crux to that will be having a winning team.
It also remains to be seen if the stadium location will benefit the club, personally and whilst i know it is fully visable, I think the choice of site is flawed on the grounds that whenever there is the slightest accident or motor incident on any motorway circumnavigating Manchester it has knock on effects and will make getting to Barton a whole lot more difficult, irrespective of what people on here may think at weekends the bulk of traffic on that stretch of motorway are going mainly to the Trafford centre, it's unlikely they will detour to the ground.

These problems arn't just Salfords they are the problems of all Rugby league clubs.

Very true, however, a colleague of mine who attended the last game at the Willows used the "contact us" page on the club website three or four weeks ago (just before the season ticket info was released) to ask about season tickets for him and his son for 2012. He's had no reply. It doesn't take much budget to respond to warm customer enquiries, just good organisation.

Try - marketing@reds.co.uk as a test email and see what you get back!

Try - marketing@reds.co.uk as a test email and see what you get back!

Wayward fan- though I understand what you're saying I too have become disillusioned with the club however taking your son to watch another team? You won't be any loss in that case, it might not be all that great here but I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than take off to another club

I don't really feel there's any huge need for a grand plan at Salford, just the thorough implementation of a few basic ideas.

Why is the communication so terrible? It's more or less free ffs. The website always starts the season well but tails off towards the half way point, you can rarely get a straight answer out of the club shop, and good luck getting a response via e-mail (odd that they were able to locate my e-mail address quickly enough when they wanted to give me a warning post-Castleford away - this proves they do have the information they just can't be bothered or don't know how to use it). Get people singing from the same hymn sheet, being proactive with information and using some of the communication mediums they already have wide open. There are glimpses of good ideas (Facebook updates were really good last season) but they always seem to tail off, as pointed out by Gaz.

Accept that you have to work with the fans, not fight them. Why is there no fan representative officially working with the club? Why is Forever Reds never used by the club for anything other than Q&A sessions with players / coaches? A shining example of this sort of attitude for me was kicking people out of The Willows after the last game at 7pm. There was no need for it. I also feel that the fans are the biggest untapped resource we have. I know the point about getting local tradesmen in and not paying them (according to other posters) was raised, but even amongst the most well known and loyal supporters there rarely seems to be any attempt to get people to help the club. As we proved when making some of the banners a few years ago, people are prepared to put a few hours in for something they see as worthwhile for Salford. Why are we not asking fans to help to leaflet drops, put posters up, even slightly more radical(!) ideas such as giving a few fans access to the club e-mail inboxes and allowing them to respond to queries (ie. when people e-mail in asking for season ticket information). This could free up full time employees to work on other things.

Stop missing opportunities. It has been mentioned umpteen times but getting ST info out at the last game, shirts in time for Xmas, etc. etc.

It's quite obvious we don't have money to spend on huge PR & marketing campaigns (and if we did it'd be better spent on the playing squad at the minute) but so many of the problems are things that can be fixed for free or with minimal cost. It's the attitude which is the most upsetting factor.

I Think thats the key point, they usually make a start look for a reaction (if we as fans like it or not) then it gets canned if it doesnt take off and everyone was talking about it, its the wrong attitude imo because most of us are waiting for somthing to go wrong before commenting on it.

Like for example last year the willows 13? video blog, the great players who wore the red shirt did they ever show it for start to finish? i appologise if they did and i missed it but did we get any further than 9?
There has been so many good ideas the club have had but didnt give it enough time / effort to give it time to fly.
There are people working very hard in the club unfortunatley its a lack of direction, leadership and planning in certain areas which lets them down.

Im hoping with the new season and the new stadium the club will apporach FR and say "lets try and iron out any problems you fans might have in the new stadium" i cant quite understand why the club dont engage the fans very well and treat us like mushrooms (unless they need somthing) we are the heart beat, we are the boat that keeps the club afloat at the end of the day and they are relyin on us to make anything they dream up a success.

Like 2003, if the club meets the fans half way fans will go the extra mile and that will make all the difference in making barton a success or failure.

I couldn't agree more with most if the above points. The club lacks fresh direction in keeping fans in the loop and making them feel part of the club.

It doesnt take a genius to know that nearly everyone nowadays has a smartphone of some description where they receive emails instantlh almost like a text message.....I get emails constantly from my local bloody kebab house with offers when I have no idea how they actually got my email address!!!!!

What's wrong with a "submit your email address" for a weekly monthly informative newsletter. A Simple page.. No more with "how to's" "where to's" and "when to's "

Ok if the club don't have the resources (heaven help us) ask for a volunteer to organise an official un-official newsletter etc etc

One of hundreds of idea's we all have I'm sure. But why do the club constantly fail to tap into there fanbase? Madness. They rely soly on the team to get people thru the doors and now the stadium it's self, which has been evident and getting worse for a while now. Things have to change.

Think a cheap and easy way to counter act some of the accusations here would be for the club to have a fans respresentative.
Find a simple way to vote for someone on here and get them involved.

Voting someone from the 20 odd people who actually post on here would hardly be seen as representative of salfords supporters.

Imagine depending on who gets voted who would be our rep. Either someone for who the club can do no wrong or someone who's only mission would be to slag off the board!

You have to have a committee of fans which would means the same old faces who work so hard for FR's. And let's not forget FR are already seen as an elitist clique by certain sections of our support.

Yeah, those pesky elitist cliques who constantly beg for more people to join them.

are these the ones who have paid to get in and thats the lot, no way am I putting anymore money into Salford and then ask why we are not top of the league and expect their £13 a match to provide the team that would be top of the league. They ask why is the club so slow to react to any email, well you need somebody to open the email, the club doesn't have the money, its as simple as that. We have not got rich sugar daddies just us the supporters, it's about time people saw this and put a bit more into the club, but no they will expect somebody else to do it for them.

kinda agree with Bigpev above. Salford fans (or at least, those pre-dominant on this forum!) are constantly sniping at the club without recognising the parameters within which it operates. People complain about comms or lack of ideas etc. - the club revealed the walk to the new ground (for a good cause that promotes the Reds throughout Salford and that needs cash to exist!) and look at the reaction on here! how debilitating must that be for the club itself? people have even posted their emails to the club on this forum - I wouldnt know how to respond to something so antagonistic. If all our fans are going to do is constantly snipe then we're hardly worth enagaging with are we? I know it's not everyone, but on this forum it never seems to end...

as a complete aside. what is the trend as regards traffic to Scarlet Turkey? has it been going down? numbers of posters gone down?

Exactly the support of ours I was thinking of pev.

It does make me wonder sometimes whether the apathetic nature of our fans is any worse than other clubs. And is made to look worse due to our smaller numbers of supporters.

It's true! I'm sure the meetings are always scheduled to be on days that I can't go due to work on purpose. Whilst also alienating the hundreds of other people who want to become part of FR.

Rubbish, FR held meetings on all kinds of days if there was a demand for another day then let it be heard I'm sure they would switch it

The club do approach supporters for their input. I guess more on a 'who we know' basis than an open forum one. I think to placate people who read the Turkey, an online conduit could do a lot. I guess the hesitancy to adopt this would be that as journos are well aware this forum is [ithe[/i online hub for Salford supporters, any dialogue would be watered down, 'no comment' style clobber.



I don't think we have access to the analytics software (if there is any). Numbers you'll find elsewhere (Alexa etc.) will be for probably be for RLFANS as a whole.

Rule of the thumb, there are 10 times as many lurkers to posters in an online forum. So if you said there were 50 regular posters on the Turkey, you're looking at a regular audience of 500. Given that many fans I've spoke to that read the Turkey have rarely if ever posted, the credence of that multiplier wouldn't surprise me - although the numbers may be more or less.



When Swinton have more members in their supporters association than we do, limited to the same communication channels, you've got to ask questions.

WHOOOSSHHHHH!!!

Put a bit more into the club ? Really ? Those who do rarely get appreciated anyway. Admittedly... the chairman appreciates it... but certain people at the top just don't... and see those who help as just being in the way... almost becoming obstructive... so the incentive isn't really there for most.

I can only recall one time the club asked for major help... and that's when we set up Forever Reds. If the club can't handle the workload... then ask for help. They can ask on the website... via Facebook or Twitter... or on here... but they won't. Unfortunately we have people running the club who think that what they are doing is adequate... and it isn't. I'm out of work at the moment and would have happily gone along to open mail and respond to it, and it wouldn't have cost the club a penny.

Ditto.

Has anybody got hold of this years company accounts? Would be interesting to see the incomings and outgoings. It was mentioned on Sky last year that all superleague clubs receive one million pounds a year from Sky and there are some clubs that don't even spend that on the salary cap - are Salford one of these? Also the Salford club has some of the best sponsorship deals in RL (so we're led to believe?) added to that, plus any scraps from season ticket holders and full match day paying supporters along with programme/meat & potatoe pie and beers sales and match day sponsors/ball sponsors and the like. I know its no wonder that we can't compete with the rich clubs, its not something I'm looking at either but when people start whinging about supporters not departing with their hard earned and sponsoring the likes of FR's or donating to charity walks I sometimes wonder is that all necessary?

Could somebody more prudent and scrupulous run a superleague club with around 1.5 million pounds a year income (maybe more?) given that a 3 year licence is guaranteed and not run it into the ground?

Unfortunately it's not that simple....

The last accounts filed at Companies House were for the year ended 30/11/2010

The next due date for filing is 31/08/2012 which will be the accounts for the year to 30/11/2011

So basically the accounts information you can get hold of for a private limited company (The SALFORD FOOTBALL CLUB COMPANY(1914)LIMITED - Company No: 00137072) is effectively two years out of date by the time you get it.

We'd know where they kept the myler money then

Erm. Seems to be picking up in the last hour or so

Same name, new stadium, different club?