he's been on twitter tonight saying he's leaving, retweeting ll good lukc messages from salford fans, anyway woody has just put this to him

PaulWood_Wolves Paul Wood
@ratch06 you going to be getting the Wigan bus to Warrington with me next year? Sick of driving on my own

to which ratchford replied

@ratch06
Stefan Ratchford @PaulWood_Wolves Haha why don't you travel with bubble, surely he could keep you entertained in a morning!


Welcome on board ratchford and welcome to the wire. Very good signing imo

Who's Bubble, i'm not always up with the nicknames?

How good is he, and what are his strengths, haven't see much of Salford this year.

I'm not saying he hasn't signed but how does woody tweeting it and ratchford not saying yes or no either way make anything confirmed?

It's a good singing, as he's a good player, who's only young and has heaps of potential. He's definitley signed with us by the way mate, we signed him quite a while ago.

I'm sure Bubble is Chris Baron, the conditioner.

A few won't be 'appy

Yup

I'll just repeat what ive said about Ratchford in the past, not convinced at all, yeh he's had some good games for Salford but he's never grabbed me as the type of player where ive gone "WoW" we need to get him signed.

If he's signed for next year then where does he play ? Our half backs are sorted for next year, you would think that Bridge and Atkins will be the centres so where does Ratchford fit in for 2012 ? He'd be an expensive squad player if he isn't going to start.

Vinnie Anderson also saying a twitter farewell to Ratchford !

This puzzles me slightly as well as we're not exactly short in the three quarters. I suppose he has good utility value being able to play at half back if needed (might be useful at the moment!). Can he play at fullback?

I haven't seen that much of him this season, but TS has obviously seen something he likes so he must have potential.

I've got it on good authority Rob that Ratchford will get some game time next year and that he's a long-term replacement for Hodgson.

dont see the point of this signing.

he wont get regular action at 6 ahead of briers assuming he stays fit.

atkins and bridge are very good england international centres who will be in the team assuming their fit, so i dont see where he fits in??

long term replacement for hodgson, iv never seen or read about ratchford full back in his career, what about riley? evans thought hodgson was brought in to educate these two on the full back role?

Has he ever played full back????

Its not only that, lets say he has been signed as a fullback. What sort of message will that send out to our under 20's fullbacks like Jordan Burke and Ben Helliwell, if its true that he's coming as a fullback then we have basically gone out and signed a fullback that doesn't even play as a regular fullback, Ratchford is a stand off/centre who may have occasionally flirted at fullback when Salford had injuries, he certainly wasn't thought of as good enough to stay there if he did give it a shot.

Salford wouldn't have gone out and signed Luke Patten and wasted a quota spot if they thought Ratchford had some potential as a fullback, he wasn't even getting in the Salford side earlier in the season.

Underwhelmed would be an understatement with this signing if its true, nothing against Ratchford as he's a solid enough player that has played well on occasions but we need to be aiming higher than that to try and get in front of and stay ahead of teams like Wigan and Saints.

He'd have done a better job than Bridge on Saturday

whilst that is true, we all know and im sure bridge would be the first to admit he is not a halfback, why we continue to use him as backup in that position baffles me.

but anyway, yes he would have done better than bridge, but i highly doubt ratchford would sign if he would be sitting on the sidelines until briers gets injured.

The truth is, if you're in the top 21 players at a club, you'll see action.

There are always plenty of injuries through the season and if he wants 1st choice rugby he has to step up and earn it.

If Tony rates him, so do I. All of his signings have been good for us, so I'm sure he has everything under control. A fair amount of Tony's signings have been questioned as well. I'm unsure where he'll play, but utility value is a plus and it means he can put various players under pressure for their place. Add to all that, he's pretty young so there's still room to improve and change.

I remember a few years back, people on here said we should have got him over Myler, Wire and Salford fans alike. Maybe things have changed, but TS is no mug and he wouldn't invest in a heap of mediocrity if it wouldn't improve us.

With Matty Blythe yet to sign a new contract, I can see him going to Widnes & Stefan Ratchford as a good replacement.

Look at saturday as a prime reason why we're signing him. Think he replaces Hodgson in time though,

We have one of the top right centres from the NRL playing for us (who would prefer to play centre) and we insist on playing Bridge there ...... me thinks we need a winger or is square pegs in round holes

Where did Paul Wood say this - follow all his tweets nothing mentioned yesterday unless you have hacked his DM???

I guarantee that plenty will be eating their words about Ratchford in a year or two.

He is a quality player, with stacks of ability and a huge amount of potential that will definitely be fullfilled under Smith.

He'll be a special player for years to come.

Agreed.

He's quality and he's one of the best youngsters in the game, not to mentioned he can play in three different posistions. I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops, because with players like Briers and Monaghan around him he'll blossom into a fantastic player.

i remember when Myler played for Salford, he was Gods gift, then we signed him and all of a sudden, he wasn't even the best player at Salford!! 'You've bought the wrong one, Ratchford is by far the better player!' 'Ratchford is gonna be a superstar'
If that's the case, thanks for the advice Salford fans, more than happy with how Myler is working out, so Ratchford's gonna be a useful addition.