There is a challenging economic hypothesis that the British economy is at its level and will not grow greatly.

So let's put this to our support:
- we are attracting roughly the amount of support we can expect from Salfordians: several have found other interests, many do not see rugby league as something to leave home for, and many have financial reasons for putting it low on their list of priorities.
- if we greatly increase marketing, we will largely attract a greater number of visits by those who already attend a few games. We may interest several who find paying to go to a game is too high (and many are now sofa sports fans anyway) so watch televison
- however, we cannot reduce entrance prices as this is now mostly outside our control having to meet fixed stadium costs.

Working on the premise that Rugby league is a minority sport, and the above,
how do we improve attendances?

No comparisons with the 60's and 70's please: that's two+ generations away and society has changed at least 6 - 8 times!

I know.

Sell all your asset's, rent a newly built stadium out in the sticks, share a co - tenancy agreement with your local rivals, make parking your vehicle a pain in the backside, ensure empty stock levels remain in the souvenir shop, abolish the pay on the turnstile rule, we'll have 8000 every week.

I remember hearing a new stadium alone will have the fans flocking.

Spot on, as always. Ownership of assets is what todays punters are looking for. If we owned more assets we'd probably double our attendances.

Note to the board - Durrr!! Obtain some assets!

Oh, and moving from a back alley in Weaste to a spot adjacent to one of the country's largest retail/leisure complexes? What were you mugs smoking when you made that call??

are you talking about Wigan?

Would it not be possible for you to write something positive about the corporate hospitality you use at another's expense,as you refuse to give any of your hard earned to the club ?
If it's absolutely wonderful this may attract more custom/support.

Typical reply

Things are difficult enough for Salford when you consider that it's number 1 fan leeches off freebies, never has anything positive to say about the Club, and is easily one of the most obnoxious posters on RLFans. (There's some pretty stiff competition on that front too)

If DI is a small demographic of Salford's support it's no wonder we struggle so much.

What did I say about Wigan? menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... s-showdown the COSS will be available that weekend

What did I say about Wigan? menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... s-showdown the COSS will be available that weekend

I had lots of positive things to say early season, I gave credit where / when it was due. Sorry to upset you butcher but I can't help having friends who offer me freebies to which I decline nowadays, a lot of the Salford public's attitude towards the club is " im not paying £20 to watch that bag of shlte" who's fault is that ? Mine I take it, you can't give tickets away now, us dinosaurs predicted this decline and our board predicted 8000 crowds which proves how wrong and out of touch they really are. I find it hilarious that you want to believe it's the small demographic dinosaur crew who are to blame for the demise of this club.

No need to be so defensive. I was not blaming any group of people for anything. Just highlighting how difficult it is for Salford to do anything. They sure don't help themselves but what few fans we do have certainly don't help either.

Gang-w@nking over every percieved problem and basking in the glory of an "I told you so" at the club's difficulties isn't helpful? Oh crumbs...

Very good question,Hillbilly Red.
I am sure there will be many ideas used in the past and many ideas that can be 'borrowed' from other clubs.Due to external pressures I cannot address my mind to this matter,fully,but how about this.In an effort to make more of an offer to those who pay the full whack why not add in a tour of the stadium - which will ensure people arrive early and have them visit the club shop,buy a programme as a memento,etc. and with that type of increase allow a reduction in admission for families/part families where
one parent is paying what was the Child Support Agency - on sickness benefit - unemployed etc.where paperwork is provided to prove this.In a socially deprived area an act of kindness may be reciprocated and it allows those who sometimes feel on the fringes of society to feel part of a family.
An entertaining day lasting more than 80 minutes will help - and for those 'new' to rugby league a piece of paper informing them of the [url=http://www.crusadersrfl.com/page.php?id=423Laws Of The Game[/url
A reduced entrance fee for holders of season tickets for other clubs may also work.
Apart from that,so far,we have been unlucky with the weather and alternative attractions.On Sunday there was the Greater Manchester Marathon where people could go along and support family members participating.I think attendances will improve and generating a bit more publicity about 'offers' will assist in that.

No viable ideas so far. Not really surprising. It's easier to tell everyone what's wrong (everything the club does, apparently) than to tell us how to put it right.

So, back on topic. In a rare non Steve Simms obsessed posting, lancetodd recently said the club has tried everything to get more fans in except build a successful team. I'm not sure they've tried [ieverything[/i, but he's probably on the right lines, although, to be honest, I'm not even sure a successful team would bring the punters in. The people of Salford just don't seem to be interested in the club or the sport, and any fans of RL in the city have possibly been lost to other, more successful, clubs (I saw someone in a Wigan shirt in Buile Hill Park today). We live in a world where people want to support a team that wins trophies and wins them often rather than support their local team. It doesn't help that we have two football clubs in the area that are able to buy success.

You also have to remember that the club has pretty much no money to spend, having agreed with lancetodd's assessment and spent as much as it can on the squad (which is why the marketing suffers). The odd idea that has been posted on the board (on other threads) has tended to come from the fantasy world of the club having unlimited funds and where, in any event, marketing and promotional initiatives are cheap as chips. Putting a sign over the Mancunian Way "can't cost an arm and a leg", as someone on here told us recently, although, interestingly, he wouldn't go and find out how much it really did cost (presumably because finding out carries the risk of also finding out he knows less than he likes to think he knows).

So what do you do? Short of finding a multi millionaire who is willing to fund the club, it's hard to see where we go. Maybe looking at the next generation and trying to get kids in with free tickets and heavily discounted ones for the parents. This will possibly involve a move to Sundays.

Another possibility would be to revamp the membership scheme. It started off as a decent idea, but is just a crock now. The only benefit it brings is that it allows you to buy a season ticket. Why not allow members to bring a friend along for free to, say, two matches, and then maybe to two more for half price?

Payment on the gate might help attract a few floaters, although I suspect this is out of the club's hands.

One thing that could help would be to improve the match day experience. Something that seems to have regressed since the move from The Willows (see away fans comments). Bit of branding,and getting a few banners up, and visible, would give the SCS some soul. The pre match atmosphere is poop. There's little to no build up, fans are choosing to drink elsewhere and turning up just before kick off, and who can blame them. Very poor choice of beer, and prices are astronomical at a time when money is tight. Cheaper, and better choice or beer may help here, or discounts for getting in early/members, as an enticement? Get the stadium alive before kick off. Make a bigger deal of the team's entry. They appear to be trying in this area, but it still feels a bit amateur (stadium announcer is also very amateurish). Throw in a mascot to entertain the kids, and some form of half time entertainment and we're getting somewhere. Things like the Willows Legends last year don't really cost anything, and help build some atmosphere and give a sense of the club's history. If we're going to charge £20 a throw, make the casual fans and floaters feel like they're getting £20 worth of entertainment. It's not much but its a start. Once you have the best product you can make, then go out to sell it with ticket deals/bring a friend schemes etc. Not just about getting people in, but making them want to come back too!

The weather will be getting better in the coming months, so its the perfect time to push this!

Is there a reason we seem to have dumped the gay power ranger and not replced the mascot and why are the flames not as active at the stadium?.

I agree about the announcer he seems to amble on late, rush through the teams sheets and then attempt to flog other things at the stadium. What's wrong with the club making announcments at the game of things that fans might be interested in, for instance I don't really do this facebook malark but got told that if you go to Bella Italia in the Lowry you get 20% off, that's the kind of thing that people should be being told about as it benfits them and you can bet your bottom dollar that is it's a succsess for one place then other will want a bit of the action, simply relying on social media isn't going to inform everyone of everything.
Agree that the drinking at the game is uninspiring so the sooner there is a fans bar either in the venue or on the grounds outside that attracts a good number of fans this will stay the case (one benefit of Sale moving in is I suspect that they will rush this through for the extra fans who come from out of the NW who will want a drink on site).
You'd think that the stadium company would look at improving the match day experience as they must be aware that they are not simply attracting fans because it's shiny and new, a big stadium requires more than a bit of noise and rock music to make it entertaining.

Agree with this. The match-day experience at the Willows was amateurish but streets ahead of what you have now.
Just a few examples:
Not all the food bars in the stands are open. The one in the West stand near the Leeds end ran out of milk.
The announcer has absolutely no charisma and sounds more like a fan than an announcer.
The ground is difficult to get into and the car park hard to get out of.
The ticketing is all to cock, and the stewards/ticket office generally haven't a clue what's going on.
Too many stewards and not enough friendly faces from the club around the ground. At the cup game it actually seemed like you had more stewards than supporters.
No Mascot...Ignito may have been a bit of a laughing stock with opposition supporters but at least he added to the experience.
The stadium is characterless.

It's not easy I know, especially if money is an issue, but some things don't cost anything. Even clubs like Hunslet and Batley have regular kids matches as curtain-raisers or half-time entertainment.

Maybe I've been a bit spoilt by going to Headingley where pre-match and half-time is outsourced to a professional events company working closely with the Rhinos community team, but I'm sure that even on a limited budget Salford could do much better.

As with most sporting venues, success on the field would help to draw folk and create some atmosphere, but how this is going to happen within the current two-tier Super League system, with haves and have nots, is difficult to envisage. Being unable to serve hot drinks at half time to an easy-to-predict 2,000 visiting supporters on a cold and wet day was a joke in terms of customer service and commerce. And yes, your announcer needs some training. When things are going badly on the field or in terms of attendance, he does not need to be drawing attention to them. And some of his attempts at humour are cringeworthy. I understand a second road out of the car park may be built eventually, but in the meantime the parking situation is actually causing some would-be attendees to stay away.

To reply to the Leeds fans posting on here about our ground, these are the things that the club has no control over, the car park owned by the SMC, the stewards G4S and the catering a company have paid £13m over ten years for the catering contract they are supposed to be professionals, ticketing ticketmaster. So most of the gripes are nothing to do with the club but do effect the club unfortunately, the other stuff, mascots i have managed 40 odd years of going to watch rugby without a thought of a club's mascot I actually go to watch what the team are doing on the field, similar i have been attending Old Trafford since the year dot and i wouldn't have a clue what the mascot does or what happens pre-match or during half-time, i want to talk to mates about what we have just seen, but it gets drowned out by the sound system and the inane droning of the announcer. I just want to watch Rugby League, I don't want to wear a muppet hat or bang a drum a scarf and replica shirt will be just fine is that too much to ask for?

Rugby league needs to have relegation & promotion, without this it as an elite few & the game continues to die. The franchise system is killing rugby league.
Rugby league needs promoting badly at grass routes, in the schools, without this the game will continue to decline.

It is said more supporters are watching Super league (successful teams), this maybe true but this is at the expense of the lower leagues, just look at the lower league teams, Oldham, Rochdale but to name a couple, I work in Rochdale & I know of rugby fans who have deserted these clubs & now watch Huddersfield because they are winning.

Salford have lost more support during the franchise system because we get beat most weeks, at least when we were relegated you could regroup & rebuild. Our season is over again & we are only in May, nothing to play for.

Without real competition good or bad rugby league will continue to decline (general statement not just aimed at SRC)

The companies to which those services are outsourced are still employed by the club who should have some influence over them.
What you as an individual would have been fine before the advent of SL, but you have to offer much more than
'just watching Rugby League' if you want to bring a new generation of supporters through the turnstiles.

I could be wrong, though I'm sure I'm not in backing up Pev in saying that the club do not employ these people the SMC do. So we have very limited influence over them.

I suspect that is not the case, the stadium is operated by a management company who appear to have the responsibility for all aspects - you could argue that the club should have had some input but in truth none of us know what is in the tenancy agreement.

I agree that the match-day is pretty amateurish - I brought two friends for their first RL game firstly one of their two tickets wouldn't scan so they had to go and get it replaced in the shop, then when we joined the queue at HT to get a coffee as they were both frozen, we got to the counter to be told "run out" - guess what they weren't impressed and I suspect it may be a while before they return.

Can't go into detail but I know for fact that there are some issues around stewarding which the club (at the very top level) do take up with the SMC.
There should be clauses in any long-term outsourced contract to penalise poor performance.

I'm not arguing that the Reds are responsible, or even that they can have that much impact, but surely they are paying for a service here. If the service isn't good enough they should at least be making the effort to get something done about it.

The number of stewards has been one of my main gripes. There were 8 stewards guarding an empty South terrace during the academy game on Sunday.



Contacted the club earlier in the season about this, and was told the number of stewards is as set out in some sort of green stadium saftey guide. However this states the requirement is only for 1 steward per 250 supporters, so we still seem to be highly over-stewarded. No doubt it is Salford who are paying through the nose for this via the stadium rental costs.

In the South stand they either didn't have any hot chocolate at all, or the one other person who was in the stand before I got in, drank it all. I tried the two outlets in the south end of the west stand too, and they had none at 2.15pm. Who would think people might fancy a hot chocolate on a cold, wet and windy day?