When it was 1st announced that we had got the go ahead to build our own iconic stadium i like thousands of us reds were over the moon,now just on verge of moving in i feel like ive been gazzumped,and worse still a gang of squatters have moved in and claimed it from me,nothing,not a chance in hell have i got any rights to fight back,that is whats so galling not being able to put over your point without somebody saying its ok,we will be alright,NO we will not be alright were in deep sh.

Its a bit weird reaily its like so many of us are suffering from a kind of "burnout" regarding the club and the direction it is heading, all this rumours and hearsay doesnt reaily help eather because being a salford fan after being let down time after time you instantly imagine the worst.
Personally ill feel a lot better when i hear matt parishes 1st interview since he has returned we have seen him do a few video interviews with salfords media man at his short time at the willows so i think we will gage what is going on by the way he is.

I remember in 2008 in the 2nd divison i could (and probably would) have given up the ghost if we hadnt got our superleague franchise im not ashamed to admit that i felt like i was suffering a kind of "burnout", the rugby was rubbish, the atmosphere was rubbish, i didnt particually enjoy going home and away at that point it became a chore, Feverstone away was proabably the worst i felt frustrated with both the playing staff and the way the club was run.
Luckly for me we got our franchise which helped, Wilshire kicking the goal in the final and the 20 minutes of madness that followed, we got permission to build the stadium, i stopped going doing "aways" on a regular basis due to other events in my life, Mcrae left eventually and with Vievers then Parish arrived and slowly i feel the hunger and the fire in the belly has returned.

I dont see Barton as a negative at all, its a new platform for the club to try and perform as a proffessional rugby league club, its easy to hide in the back streets of weaste blaming lack of passing trade, when we move to Barton THERE IS NO HIDING PLACE ANYMORE its do or die for everyone who is lucky enough to work in the club be that the tea boy or the Cheif exec
Sale proabably sharing our space will mean we have to up our game just to stand still which in a way a succesful business is run.

The club in many ways the club have their finger on the pulse of so many good things (twitter, facebook, phone alerts ect) but struggle with touching the comman man (or woman) on the street with general infomation about the club and thats the frustrating thing they just arnt able to connect with the average joe.
They reaily have to look at trying to go to the people in the local community of salford and manchester and say "WE ARE YOUR TEAM"

Money is an issue but its not the be all and end all, the club should be doing some kind of market research with local business in the area to say what would you want from your local rugby team, we help you..you can help us and together we can move forward

I dont believe in free tickets it devalues the product, perhaps discounted tickets for adults who have kids who sign up for rugby classes or fun days is the way to go, instead of treating us fans like mushrooms and not telling us anything the club reaily need to reach out to the community and try and make this a success, without us the existing fans Salford RL dies its as simple as that.

I just hope that JW listens to Salford Ladys ideas and puts them into place, he is the man who can make it happen, leading from the front, id rather us go out of business trying to make this a success than standing still and slipping of the radar never to be seen again, least the club can say they tried

A new stadium will mean changes, perhaps not today, not this week, perhaps not this year but soon the club will need to evolve to continue to grow, the people who did a job for us in the back streets of weaste will be replaced if they are unable to go to the next level.

At the moment lost of people can see what is coming like a car crash, our offield departments arnt communicating very well with the outside world (our potential fan bace) sale will march in with their juggernaught marketing and communication skills and steal would could be our new fans thats the concern i feel deep down for a lot of our fans.

As for Salford RL i agree with the wigan fan, i didnt fall in love with the willows all them years ago, its the rollercoaster ride of watching a team which sometimes can and sometimes cant achieve did it for me, you just never know with salford what your going to get with salford be that playing or admin,

At the end of the darkest day the light will begin to shine though and tomorrow will be a lot brighter im sure of it, us fans will feel a lot better about the direction of the club is taking and the love will return i can guarantee...if you still want it...



Thats the kind of crazy bonkers plan id expect from salford

Just a few things are troubling me about this, doesn't the club already pay someone to do this job? There are two reasons I ask, firstly if I were that person and I read that my boss was speaking to someone on matters of my position I'd be A) inquisitive as to why the Chairman would speak to someone from the "outside" about things that are under my remit, B) Does that mean that the Chairman has no far in me and C) a bit peeved. On the other hand why does the chairman see it fit to speak to someone regarding the failings of one of his own members of staff rather than either speak to that person directly regarding his concerns about the way I operate or to my line manage (i.e. the chief exec) and tell him to make sure I up my game. If the chairman is aware that the person in his employment is doing their job to a sufficient standard then either tell them or fire them. This all appears a little sneaky to me.

This isn't a dig at salfordlady83 and in fact I wish you all the best as the clubs performance on this matter is appalling and action needs to be taken but if someone isn't doing their job then get rid.

What you tend to get when ' Marketing ' is mentioned at sports clubs , is the reply that " we've sold the sponsorship and the corporate sales are going well "

That's it , very rarely does the conversation come round to getting the paying spectator through the turnstiles , it just doesn't enter their mindset

John Wilkinson is a fantastic bloke , one of the nicest you could ever meet , but I doubt that John has ever in his businesses had to market his products to the general public , and I'd suggest that he would be of the opinion like many on here , that the only way of building a bigger fan base would be a ' winning team '

Well unfortunatly those ideas are 20/30 years out of date , and nobody can provide a winning team consistently enough to work that way

Salford HAVE to build a fan base with a mediocre team on the pitch , if the team plays well and wins , that is a bonus , but the assumption has to be that it has to be done without help from the team

Why do i get the feeling that we are clutching at every straw,ive wrote to wilky and i`m there thursday about player recruitment.

Perhaps he want to see how salfordlady83 runs a successful ship and what we as a club can do differently, presumably the budgets are poles apart so its what we can do on a budget

Or just make it an interview for the role!

I've not posted on here in years but felt compelled to do so tonight.

As someone who's lived outside the city for many years (but still used to travel home and away for games) I was looking forward to attending matches on a regular basis again at the new stadium.

However, after attending the final game at the willows doubt began to set in again. As someone who also has a background in media, marketing and PR, I couldn't get my head round quite how badly the whole event was botched or how so-called professionals could fail to implement even the most rudimentary measures such as data capture when faced with 8-9000 potential new customers.

Today's news is the final nail in the coffin for me. Nothing more than the proverbial (scarlet) turkeys voting for Xmas.

Next year was to be my little lad's first year of regularly going to games; we were all set to purchase season tickets for Barton. However, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I don't think I can face inflicting such a poorly run club on him. Unlike his dad, I want him to enjoy his rugby, not see it as an obligation. There's a successful, well run club on our doorstep who all his school pals support anyway and, much as it'll pain me, I'd sooner take him there.

As for the infield stuff, I think some on here are being duped in the same way as several super league chairman have been. The fad for employing unheard of NRL assistants will be short-lived. Wigan were fortuitous to unearth Michael Maguire, I honestly think the likes of ourselves and Hull KR will end up with egg on our faces really quickly (particularly given some of the things I've been told by people Very close to the pro game).

Apologies if this post doesn't fit the agenda that some on here wish to propagate but that's how I see it. I'd love to be proven wrong though.

Salfordlady83 not bad going 1 post and next thing you know your being installed as the clubs marketing and media guru / saviour



Welcome Wayward fan your going to have to wait your turn to pitch your ideas to wilky



As for deciding which team to follow, marketing departments and management teams come and go but the rollercoaster ride of following salford rugby rolls on and on from one generation to another from father to son from mother to daughter .

You never know in 5 years we could be playing infront of 20,000 everyweek and not be able to move for salford rugby marketing bumf

Or

We could be playing in swintons new ground in agecroft infront of 1000 with no posters in sight

Fantastic post!

Bobby (The optimist) please, please STOP.

nah



I'll tell you somthing this off-season has produced some fantastic topics on here so far much better than the usual off season jibber jabber

I always like it when posters are true to their ' user name '

Let's hope that your meeting goes well. You might though have a hard task on your hands not from as some would suggest from JW but from the people who are actually employed to promote the club but some planely don't.
A few of us last year met people from the club to discuss the move to the new stadium and the grand plans that were to be set in place to see off the Willows of which none to my recollection where implimented (despite offers of help from all present to assist in any way possible) instead it looked to all and sundry that there was was general concensus that they will turn up anyway rather than targetting the returning people with offers for the coming season at the new ground.
I would if I were you try my best to ensure that you speak to JW on his own as the people who will resist this most will obviously do thier best to destabilise everything you suggest. What you'll find is that if you come up with decent ideas that you'll get people who will help impliment them as though we may bicker on here we all have the same common goal of a thriving Salford City Reds.

OK her is my take on this.

The move to the new stadium should be focused on the loyal fans we have, they are one of the best marketing tools you can have.

There should be an open day for all fans at no cost to see the stadium with staff on hand to explain the season tickets and for fans to be able to purchase them on the day.
n be the family clubmake it a day for fans and players to mix, allow people to wander in off the street no restrictions.
Merchandising- Rob is right the shirts should be available even if only for juniors in time for xmas.

Look at the other sports and what they offer, we need to offer something extra which can access to players.

Relaunch the junior reds and make it something special on match days the facilities are so much better at new stadium

The club shop should be the centre of everything. Make it somewhere to drop in, have a fans zone with videos playing. Make use of Bill McLaughlin and his exceptional photos.

All of that is spot on

The club have blanked Willows regulars regarding access to Barton , to say I`m peed off with this state of affairs is a huge understatement.

salfordlady83 may be a succesful business woman, although I serioulsy doubt if publiscing your meeting with the Chairman on an open fans forum is going to endeer you to him, as it strikes me as being self promotion.

We all call the marketing etc but we dont know what goes on, what ideas or budgets they have etc.

Who are you taking with you, you mite be introduced to Mr Tarry and Mr Simms,I hope I am wrong,but I think your
ideas, if any good,mite be hoofed into touch because they have not thought of them first.With your good self involved
in marketing you will know,same as they should already know,that the biggest marketing ploy Is the team.
Also as you mite already know we had another lady involved with Hull,at the club for a spell I think she was also involved with marketing.A lot of people think she should still be with us,she seemed to e doing a good job.
So I don,t hold out much hope for your good self, But I hope I am wrong.Just think If all goes well
and he take some notice,on Friday we could have a new C E O.Good luck.

Swinton's got nothing to do with the fact that your club is in turmoil.

despite taken out of context I need to point out ,
club is not in turmoil , the fans posting on the forum are ..
the Club is moving 3.4 miles to Barton , Swinton are moving 15 miles to Leigh.
hardly a position to crow about on our forum .

so who's head are WE calling for if its US in turmoil

Get the facts right it's 11.4 miles from Station Rd to LSV.!!!!

As for crowing, why bring Swinton into it unless you expect a reaction.

Er you played at The Willows last season if memory serves me correctly, so actually your moving 12.9 miles up the road.

We have to careful not to blame the club for decisions we make. Things change. Our circumstances change. Our responsibilities change. The people with whom you go to matches changes. And I think it's easier for supporters to coat their waning desire with effects from the club's [non activity rather than look at what has changed for them personally.

For example, and The Black Cat will no doubt tell me otherwise, but as people who live in Weaste the situation has changed for our ilk. What popping round the corner was before is now going to be an effort. The logistics of getting to and from matches is still unknown. This isn't a whinge per se. Most folks made a considerable effort - in cost and travel time - to get to The Willows. And for as many locals who drop off, they may be made up from Barton and Winton folk. However, I'm sure there will be long-time supporters from East Salford who will watch Salford less regularly, finally 'calling it a day' because of the travel aspect... and blame it on their loss of faith in their club. (Watch out for me doing exactly this in 12 months!)

For me, this move is vital for the Reds to remain relevant. We have to kowtow to the R.F.L and if moving to a new stadium placates them then so be it. Because National League is death. I enjoy watching those matches on telly but attending them in person is a different matter. 2008 was a season that I certainly wouldn't want to revisit with any relish, even though we won everything. So if it's a case of seeing Salford wither and die at The Willows or go for another shot at the big time in Barton, I know what I'm choosing.



It is risky; look what happened to Manchester Storm. However, it depends on the parents. When we talk about attracting families we need to think how a match day is pitched. It cannot be compared to an afternoon at the cinema or a day at Alton Towers but it is comparable to other spectator events. I wonder whether some rugby league clubs fall for the former and get their targeting wrong. Surely a parent who has been to sporting events before, whatever that sport may be, is far more likely to take their children to matches. Now these families may also be 'happy clappy', but at least they are more likely to stick with the club for longer rather than moving to the next fad.

The ideal for football clubs (all codes), the one they are unabashedly aiming for, is the N.F.L model. This is where groups of people go to one game in the season, as an outing, and spend spend spend. The environment was fostered mainly because N.F.L games are very expensive and few and far and between. What a winning combo. But most rugby league clubs' identities aren't strong enough to benefit from this exclusivity.



I'm not so much concerned about the Reds here - we're getting what we're been given - but Salford, the city. The people that should be looking at themselves is Salford Council. There's a considerable risk that its flagship stadium will be synonymous with Sale and [the very nearby Trafford Council. I can't see the R.F.L being chuffed about it either.



Yes. Are you therefore implying that if the Sale partnership doesn't come off, the club is heading for certain insolvency? And why are we quick to assume that if Sale do come onboard, it would halve our costs? The JV may see the arrangement rather as potentially paying off the stadium in half the time.



Salford Council backing for a new stadium resulted from the whispers they heard from the Maine Road thing.



Well, all the marketing ideas you will get from here have been tried. But whether they've been stuck with for any length of time is another thing. So I would like to see the club finish initiatives they boldly espouse to the end rather than losing faith too early. PR is clearly sh=#000000it and needs a shot of something very strong and very addictive. For example, ask an R.L. journo about their thoughts on Salford.



Well that's one way you can take it. In many professions though it's common to have an in-house team and external consultants or agencies defining policies and guides. It doesn't necessarily point to inadequacies or poor communication in an organisation. But...



If your doorstep is Wigan or Warrington and you live there, fair play. If you live in Walkden or Cadishead, hang your head man. Hang your head!

Thanks Chico, I'm not going to tell you otherwise as I have already thought about and discussed this dilema.

Do I really want to be pi$$in around after finishing work on a Friday night at 6 o'clock, to rush my tea, get ready for a game, then most likely struggle to get to the stadium? DO I want to watch a game on my own in the main stand as I have previously said there is NO-WAY I'm going to watch a home game from behind the sticks, will I find it dissappointing that I no longer have my fellow Salford Shed Dwellers around me - Is the match experience now dead for me? After said game has finished, will I want to be bothered with the hassle of returning to my local very late, to get there just before last orders and rush a few beers down?

OR:

Is the pull of supporting Salford for 30+ years going to erase the above problems, thoughts, logistics and selfishness? - I'm not so sure? It may depend on the ineptness of the club on and off the field that will be the ultimate decision maker?

To the lady in marketing -Salford have a habit of taking supporters with a profession / trade, getting work out of them but paying no fee.
I know people this has happened to, and I know people who will no longer do work for the club.


As a fan, i am sure you would be happy to give your advice free of charge with a view to it helping the club, and that's commendable. Hopefully the ldeas you can offer will make a difference, but remember the lack of funds and the fact that everying needs to be done on the cheap (free).


Trying to get an invoice paid by Salford is a standing joke!