I still don't buy into this 'lets rely on away support' theory. It's not good enough. The same amount of away support may not come back next year because of the bad experiences they've had so far. We need to drum up local interest and fast.

That’s great. But what happens when the novelty of the new stadium wears off? The away figures this year are bound to be up on last which like you say is extra revenue that can only be good, but once people have visited the stadium once we are back to square one you’re not telling me Cas are going to bring 1,500 again next year? And I can guarantee Hull will bring less too. Again we are relying on away support to keep us in business.

that seemed to be the gist of what the club have been saying for the past 2 - 3 years before the move

And you would accept building the club's future on the back of away supporters is a ridiculous idea?

Whichever way you dress it up there has been less than 4,000 Salford supporters at the first two home games and the 'build it and they will come' myth perpetuated by Tarry, Simms and Wilkinson has been shattered. If we get our act together our best hope of progression is the Huddersfield model of steady but slow crowd growth over a period of years. This will take a huge improvement from the club.

Surely you can't disagree with anything in this post?

We need money. This was the case before the move and will remain the case until we get some or implode.

You left the "NFT" off the end of that post in order to give it more credence.

i totally agree i was only stating what the club were saying, plus the growth in corporate as well, but the coalface support has not been looked at by the club in shape or form.

Of course more money would be great but this club has got huge room for development in areas that cost nothing. It's not money that prevent card machines being installed or cause the club shop to be shut during lunch. Basic good quality customer service doesn't cost anything. Improving basic things in the long term will generate increased revenue streams and make us a more viable investment opportunity for someone in the future. Again surely this is something that can be agreed upon by all? The club has got financial difficulties but we will only generate more money if we become better at everything we do.

Agreed. I think people often argue on this forum because they are discussing two different issues.

On every occasion where I was listening to club officials discussing the new stadium I have never heard at any time "Build it and they will come" what has been pointed out is that-

(a)We will have to work hard to increase our home support which we may or may not have done over the last two home games.

(b)We will look to increase the number of away supporters that attend matches at Salford City Stadium compared with the last few years at the Willows,which we appear to have achieved on the last two home matches.

(3)We will have a better opportunity to increase the corporate side of the business, I am unsure how this side has gone.

I agree that the Huddersfield model of slow but steady growth,preferably during the next three years to start with and there is clearly many areas where the club can and should improve things on the advertising / marketing front.

Club officials have quoted Warrington, Hull FC and their increase in crowds as examples of what happens with new stadiums but as people have said previously they both started from a higher support base than we have.

They both did a lot of work to make the moves a success unlike anything we're doing at the moment. Whether you like it or not, we adapted a 'build it and they will come attitude', which maybe now they realising wasn't such a good idea. If that wasn't the case people would know about the games, know who's ground it is, know what sport is played at the ground etc. The fact is people don't. And on top of that there is all the other issues, such as the not having a card machine/telephone line its not as if moving to the stadium was shock so why weren't these put in place? Could you imagine that happening at the two teams you mention?

'Build and they will come' is a phrase that encapsulates Salford's approach to building a new stadium. The theory that did not alter pretty much from the start (even when the design of the stadium changed) was a new stadium in an 'iconic' location with great visibilty off the motorway would lead to dramatically increased crowds. The move from Weaste was needed because people would not come to watch Rugby League at such an unwelcoming, dilapidated venue. This view was repeated time and time and time again on every occasion the new stadium was discussed. The view that we would experience crowd increases like Warrington and Hull was often quoted. I'm informed that as recently as last month John Wilkinson was interviewed in RL World making such claims. I agree with much of the rest of your post.

I would say that Warrington had a similar fanbase to us, they have moved to a more town centre location and have an owner who is loaded and still in the right business for making money, so he invests in world famous players for a few games to get the fans in and built from there.
Remember we did it years ago bringing in Garry Jack but it still didn't make the crowds grow by more than a few hundred, but we need to really get the foot soldiers out and players into local schools with match videos and freebies plus a little bit of coaching, try and build the local Rugby Club into the curriculum, maths and English around Salford City Reds with the players supporting in these lessons, something like the golden ticket, and working with the schools to sell tickets there and offer cash incentives for most sales, £10 family ticket for an Adult + one Child £15 Adult 2 kids, £20 2adults 1 kid £25 2adults 2 kids etc

build the basic bricks and we may be able to get them in

I'd agree with that. I'd also review the membership system to be honest, I'm not sure it's working in terms of attracting people to come and watch, particularly if they are starting off as floating fans. Something like the above around a more sensible pricing structure for standard entry could well work out. Got to be worth a try?

*Corporates.

My own customer experience has never fallen short of excellent but there are enough examples here and elsewhere that clearly show an area in need of improvement. I'm not particularly close to the day-to-day running but it often strikes me that the staff spread themselves very thinly, which could have a lot to do with money.

So agree with walshy here. I can remember on numerous occasions JW stating that thy have paid for researchers to look into it and the findings shown that there were 1-2000 fans out there who didn't come to games due to the surrounding area. The club definitely upheld the build it and they will come philosophy. They have no plan b!

Am I right in thinking that game 1 had four stands open, game 2 three open and game 3 two open ? what next all pile into the big stand ?



And to think there are people on here who believe phases 2 and three will happen.

It's all a bit sad really..

Surely some sort of offer of a free kids ticket with every adult ticket bought in the east stand would get a few in there and be successful in turning it into some sort of family enclosure.

Nope, half measures never work, just like in RL, go into it not fully committed and you will fail, commit to it being a family stand, fill it with families on free tickets ,control is the key to it succeeding and not being abused by idiots

The other option is to just do nothing, and the result of that will be? Nothing

Now just imagine if you'd had 1500 kids and parents in the East stand last night?

They're would have been nowhere to put the banners!

You would have topped the 5000 mark

Quote ="Russel"You would have topped the 5000 mark '" www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17195496

Quote ="Russel"You would have topped the 5000 mark '" www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17195496

:1ea6dhig

That would have been irrelivant, what would have been=#40FF00:1ea6dhig=#804000 the positive is they would have had 1500 people witness an exciting entertaining match who might have been tempted to return in the future