I've noticed that one side of Salford's new stadium is up and looking promising??.....Well, if what I'm watching now on TV is anything to go by, I'd leave it at one side, as that is all they'll ever fill.....



Sky must hate these early season games where they have to show 2 of the 'lesser' clubs, who, more often than not, put on the greatest advert for Rugby Union you will ever see.

Dismal, the crowd and the performance of both sides. The difference between last night and this is huge. No enterprise or invention, Salford are playing one out and Crusaders are playing too much behind the line.

Maybe that try will spice it up.....or is it wake it up?

one plus ive got crusaders with a 10 start,but it is awful

At least it's pepped up a bit, still too much messing around in the tackle by the Crusaders, this will lose them the game if their not careful.

Now Salford are doing it!

Not a bad game, second half.

Your right, both sides are trying to score now

Compared to the first half anyway.

3416 there, we should get more than that tomorrow. With no away support.

Saw their new place the other day on the way to the Traff. Looks similar size to our north stand but looks to have two storeys of boxes above.

I believe the original design of 25000 has been halved, but I still think they will struggle to half fill it. The location is completely different to our town centre one.

90% of those attending games there will have to either get public transport or park on the stadium complex itself. I know there will be other things around there eventually, but I would imagine they would have parking restrictions.

It's similar to one of the options on the table in the planning stage of ours, the Limekiln, Burtonwood one. Out in the middle of nowhere-bad idea, thank god we didn't go for that.

I must admit, I have the same reservations about the chosen location for their new ground.

It has been sited quite a distance from their traditional 'area' (its now more Irlam/Eccles than Salford) and you have to wonder how many of their existing fans they will actually lose with this move.

It really is in the middle of nowhere and you sense that this club will actually become a separately new club from the existing one, in comparison with how we managed to keep our identity, which could certainly have been lost, if we had chosen a more out-of-town location.

Makes you appreciate the location of our ground. Must make a big difference to attendances. I'll be using the fact that it has several pubs in close proximity tomorrow. When past the new Saints ground today, I think that will be impressive when completed. Is it too far from the town centre though?

Saints's ground is still local to the traditional town though, which isn't really the case with this new Salford one.

The Salford re-location is the equivalent to if we had left Wilderspool and built our new ground in Widnes.

It's not that bad. More like moving from Wilderspool to the outskirts of Sankey/Westbrook.

Saints one is like building your ground at Morrisons. Walking distance from the town centre. Wait till you see the pedestrian bridge, it's going to be wayyyyyyy sexy.

The problem for Salford is that they don't have the largest fanbase to start with....Situating your ground in the middle of nowhere isn't particularly enticing to a casual local and as somebody already states, to reach the new ground for existing fans is going to take a decent car journey, which isn't ideal either.

A massive advantage for Wire and the HJ is, undoubtedly, the location.....A move to the outskirts of Sankey/Westbrook (Liverpool side) would have been a disaster.

Possibly. But with Salford, given their existing fanbase is tiny, the impact of damaging it will be lessened. Rather than lose 4 or 5 thousand and gain 1 or 2 like Warrington might have done in that example, they may lose 1,500 and gain 5,000.

It will be interesting to see how their crowds do there. It's certainly a much more vibrant, family friendly location. The Trafford Centre is close so the 'I hate rugby, do you have to go...' brigade would have something to do as well. But whether the football mad local populace are up for it is another matter. One would hope they've done some research on that.

The smell of the neighbouring sewage works at Salfords new ground will make quite an impact when the wind is blowing from east to west.

The distance that Salford are moving is around 3 1/2 miles. I actually think it will do them good to get out of their current area and to attract both home and away fans.

With our move to The HJ we moved a mile, but that actually moved us closer to our fans and the town centre.

St Helens move is around 2 miles and puts them closer to the town centre.

There is talk that once that whole site is redeveloped there will be a ferry link to the traf centre. Not many clubs can say that you travel to our ground by boat.

catalan?

True..but their real selling point is getting to it by air

Your making it sound like theyre moving to Bolton. Have you actually worked the distance out? Its less than 4miles.

IT actually might do them some good in promotions - the location is easier to get to. Parking will be better. The attraction of having something to eat and drink pre and post match at Trafford will help. What they have to do is have a good/solid season in the first one in there. If they get their marketing right I think it will help attract new punters as well as those who fill the shed they have at the mo - even the chunkier fans can walk 3.7mile.

.... on the warm summers afternoon.

I passed the site the other day its coming along nicely..
Is anything else being built on the site..Bars? Hotel? Cinema?

[url=http://www.salford.gov.uk/pr-10-2624.htmBit more info here[/url

I'm not saying its a huge distance, but its certainly a significant enough move to make an impact on their current fanbase.

I'm certainly no expert on this but I'd imagine that most of Salford's current fanbase will be based around the Willows and the residential area that surrounds it - If so, that's a fair trek for a Rugby fan who may consider a day out at the match to include a 10 minute walk and a few pints with his/her mate .....I'd be particularly interested to know what percentage of their support is from the Eccles/Irlam area which the new stadium is being built in?....Yes, that is potential support, but at the same time its a huge job to convince a currently uninterested public to take up a sport in the current financial climate.

I think the move can work, but I do feel that the club may end up with a new identity before it realises its full potential.....It could be possible we end up with a 'Manchester' titled club that the authorities have always wanted?