Now I'm not one to be usually called a conspiracy theorist (though I do believe the UK secret services did for Princess Di!) - BUT - isn't it a tad strange that the rebuttal of Steve Diamond's outburst comes not from the SRLFC board, but from the coach of the academy side?
Not one board members name on the article on the Reds official site ?
mmmmm - if you sup with the devil, use a long spoon!

I'm not convinced about fanbase for the same reasons that Walshy has pointed out - many people simply dislike the other code. Once ace up the sleeve we do have though is that we'll probably be significantly cheaper to watch for a floating fan.

I can see potential benefits from the corporate side if any of Sale's corporate guests like the facilities and want to entertain people year round.

Walshovski / Karlos13: I don't disagree that rugby league is by far the best game but if people don't want to watch the sport & prefer to watch football from the pub then time will not stand still, remember in the hey day Salford average was only around 5500!
We can all go on about the board of Salford but the reality still remains the Salford public will not come to watch?
If we cannot fill the stadium or we have no money, either someone else needs to have deep pockets & so far only Salford council have put the money in to make it happen. I would dearly love Salford to own the stadium. I don't have any answers but I will continue to support my club in any way I can, however it is clear Salford are broke & it needs fixing & I for one live life in the real world & would always look at the small print before taking as gospel what was said at a forum meeting.
I am not saying it is untrue but what do we all suggest, this is a business & Salford council remain the only serious investor, we have less than 2 percent of the Salford public interested enough to watch, this does not in my books put us in a good position for future survival of the club as we know it.

Redgunner The salford public would turn up to watch a winning team combined with a good marketing strategy. End of story. Please stop blaming the Salford public for failing's upstairs.

Sale have made no noises about working together, in fact quite the opposite. If sport is business as people quite erroneously keep saying on this and other threads then Sale have more to gain by attempting to sideline us. Would you find it acceptable if we have to start shifting games for Sale? What if Sale are not happy about two games being played on the pitch a week and we have to play at our 'new home' of Heywood Road now and then? Or we are told our junior sides can't play there? As people are at constant pains to point out Wilky doesn't have enough money to stop this and we certainly don't have enough control over the ground to prevent it either.

People will accuse me of scare mongering but just take a look at Stockport County if you doubt it. Where is Michigan 'Sale and Rugby Union is brilliant, we've got loads to learn from them so let's merge tomorrow' Red on this thread?

Leeds work well with their union counterparts!

Not successful though is it....

Two points -

1 - Leeds RL are by far the dominant partner.
2 - Look at the state of the pitch at Headingley.

Think everyone pretty much kn ows that with my family background I like RU as a sport on an international level and have the few times when I worked down in Goucester enjoyed the odd club game but I'm trying to be subjective.
Firstly until I see something from a senior club official at Salford I'm not trusting anything the MEN says.
Should this happen I know there will be detractors but think the simple reality is Wilky is getting older and less likely to want to keep digging deeper and deeper to bail out a creaking (if not sinking ship) so any attempt by him to find a buyer is understandable. Has anyone got any corriliation between this story and the one of the other day about someone being appointed by a local business man to look into the clubs future viability?. Could be that someone with money wants to buy into the club at a time when we are getting closer to Sale as they see it as an oppertunity to get in at the very start of any joint venture.
I've said before on a few levels as sharing of manpower and expertise between the club can only improive standards, both in a back office capacity (I defy anyone to say Sale don't market themslves better than us) and shared facilities/training, were using Leigh's pitch for training from what I can gather but surely an agreement with Sale would see us using thier private rugby facilities in Carrington?.
As other have said we don't own our ground so despite the fears of some we have not reallt got a leg to stand on, if any of us rented out property we'd want to maximise our revenue from it wouldn't we? the stadium management people are doing what any right minded business types would do and especially as they have public investment to consider.

Th3e crux of this matter if the board at salford are strong they can ensure that the club moves foward if this story is true, allow ANYONE to ride roughshod over us and I'm affraid WE get what THEY deserve.

Why did I mention you? I'll just get the chaps at Bletchley Park to decipher your post and then I will respond.

Not that I can see, nor did I mention you, person comments about having to decipher my mail is hardly going to lead to a reasoned bebate is it?

Comparing average attendances in the 1970s with now is not possible. Sport and Rugby League were both at all time lows and for the time our attendances were excellent. There is/would be plenty of appetite for a good rugby league side in Salford. We averaged 5,470 in 1988/89 when we had a half decent season for example.

I'll remember that next time you're having a pop at Dantes Inferno or Mitie Mouse irrespective of what their post says. Anyway, I'm not getting into this as there are far more important things to discuss.

Sorry you posted this while i was writing my thread.

So in reply to Walshovski I have one of those pesky things called a job to attend to before feeding the egos of the likes of you on here. I'm glad to say I like RU as it gave me something to chear last weekend after watching Salford get beaten by the best team in the world on Friday.

It's old and it's hackneyed but unless one of us finds a few million down the back of the sofa what you, me or anyone on here wants is going to be a distant second to sound finiancial sense. Do you honestly think Wilky will sell to any Tom, Dick or Harry? he might have his detractors but no right thinking person can doubt his love for the club. I

If we did for sake of arguments get sold to Kennedy what would he have to gain by buying to let us fade away? ownership of the ground we own? our massively talented playing squad? our huge backroom staff? No I can't really see any real benefit in him investing in buying the club and not making it work or at the very least trying to make a go of it.

For the record I'd be happiest if we did find a sugar Daddy to buy the club, lob endless money at making us the best in SL (both on and off the playing field) and then ultimately buy the stadium from the owners but taking rose tinted specs off for a minute deep down we all know that's highly unlikely to happen.

Maybe my Salford Sharks mock-up picture was more prophetic than I realised at the time...

The Crux of the matter is that we can do bugger-all about the situation, and we can hope that Sale come in offering a hand of friendship. Personally, I can see a Roman-like back stabbing with a push for total say over all things Stadium related. There seems to be some who can see benefits to partnership, but imo those benefits only apply to Sale. Diamond made it perfectly clear in the MEN as he, without respect, wanted to lay claim to the best young talent RL has to offer. It wouldn't work the other way.

If he is happy to start playing these types of game in the media now, imagine what he might have up his sleeve that he doesn't want to divulge?

The worst part of all this? You can't really blame the Club for these developments. Once the RL decided that new Stadia was the SL shoe-in the Club had to commit to leaving the Willows. Financial collapse and years of wrangling has afforded us a chance at Barton. We had to sell our soul to stay in SL. Now a bigger more ruthless venture wants in on what we sold our soul for and we can do nothing about it. All we can hope for is that we can improve on the pitch and slowly build on it, or that our soon-to-be lodgers have no intention of trying to kick us out the back door.

You were one of, if not, the most frequent poster on here until you got slapped down for accusing GT of being a hooligan. Your job didn't get in the way then.



Any potential new owner can tell Wilky whatever they want and when the club is handed over they can do as they please. Everyone knows Wilky wants away and I'm sure his desire to get rid will override any other considerations at present.



Look at Stockport County. Peel would have no qualms in handing over the stadium and the council maybe the final hope we have, but they haven't shown any inclination to fight our corner until now. I must of missed our massively talented playing squad but Sale could cherry pick the best and dump the stodge.

This whole thread was never about investment it was about Sale and Steve Diamond's statements - “We have to attack the conurbations of Manchester and bring in a new audience. It would give us a fantastic opportunity. We’ll probably never rival soccer in terms of popularity but we can rival them with a different brand of sport." - Interpret that in a positive way if you can.

Great post although I would disagree about not blaming Salford for anything.

So it all boils down to lewis at RLFC headquarters is secretly working for the Yawnian lads and is in a complicated plot to shut down Rugby league all together.
On a serious note Salford Council borrowed money to lend to Salford, the council can actually borrow money cheaper than the current government, so the council put a mark up on this money so that Salford repay the loan at below banks standard rates but putting cash into the council coughers, so win win all round, but to make it win for Salford we need people through the gates. To get people through the gates we need a winning team, to get a winning team we need people through the gates, classic catch 22.

I agree the council have been onside with Salford and we need them now more than ever but why did they allow us to be roped into such a unsatisfactory deal over Barton?

It's amazing how many wild accusations and presumptions are stated on here! By the sound of it on here were doomed and the megolathe of the north west sport that is sale sharks will soon dominate the world! Beware!!

we have not seen the agreement yet, but the council have to do the best for its citizens, and so the Salford deal was a business transaction just as was the BBC deal, the council, well Labour members. want Salford to do well and put the city on the map. The original deal with the council meant Barton could go ahead, without that we would be playing this week in the Northern Rail cup.

Isn't the problem that we mere fans have no idea what the actual deal is?

Have you seen the lease or rental agreement?

No - nor have I !!

To use words like "unsatisfactory" is just pure speculation.

I agree with the Butcher & BigPev - from the time that the original development co. went belly up the whole stadium issue became a nightmare - without the stadium - no franchise, but how to get the stadium built? In the end much (all?) control had to be given to Peel - clearly they now call the shots. A sad situation to end up in but it really is very difficult to see an alternative (though I'm sure Mr Inferno will have one).

The agreement means we can't control our own ticketing, our own car park, our own catering or even the advice we put on our own webiste about how fans should get to the ground. For this 'privilege' we pay, what every leak that comes out of the club suggests is, an exorbitant amount of rent. I think we all know the agreement is a total nightmare, call that speculation if you are so inclined.

We've had ample opportunities to establish ourselves as a Super League club down the years, with or without a new stadium and we have failed miserably time and time again.

Went to heywood road today to watch our academy got talking to some sale fans and they were fuming about the name change and Diamond shooting his mouth off
Also found out that its sale fc (sales other RU team) who have the assets training ground in carrington ect not sale sharks