I'm with you all the way Andy but what exactly can we do about it? They're moving in, signed and sealed, done deal.

Makes me sick to the core.

I certainly don't look forward to their arrival.

I cannot think of any advantages for us. Rugby Union has always tried to destroy League for me. I can't imagine that changing now.

A sad day for me. I am a Salford fan. I will never be a Sale fan.

First of all we need all the fans to accept this is bad, which at present they don't. We need to ask question of Salford RLFC and the people at the stadium management company. If everyone who was worried/concerned about this move emailed Dave Tarry and John Merry with some questions we might start to at least get some answers about where we stand.

[i6.Will supporters get chance to look at the stadium soon?

Yes, there will be a number of supporter open events planned in the very near future.The first will be on Sunday 15th April at the Salford City Stadium.This will be for existing season ticket holders from 11.00 - 13.00 and then all supporters from 13.00 - 15.00.There will then be a further event on Wednesday 18th April from 17.30 - 19.30 for all supporters/season ticket holders who could not attend the first date.Staff from Sale Sharks and the Stadium will be present at these and all future events to answer supporters' questions.Full details of how the events will work will follow next week[/i

Bit of a difference to how we went about things... I can only hope this whole affair will be a kick up the a*se for those in power at Salford.

All those years of hard work, delays, setbacks, heartache and false dawns finally come to this. Kennedy must be p*ssing himself at getting a new ground for sale for f**k all work.

Having said that, I look forward to Sale's marketing team working closely alongside ours...

Something like this is all Salford fans have been crying out for since we moved in there. Would it have been too much to ask for someone from Salford to have published something similar?

On the subject of fixtures:
[iThe Sharks will plan their fixtures around the existing Reds commitments for August and September.Similarly when the Reds are planning for the 2013 Super League season (commencing February) they will plan around the existing confirmed Sale Sharks games.This pattern will then repeat going forward.[/i

No doubt Sale will bag the much coveted Friday night fixtures during the early part of 2013 superleague season. Not sure how this will be to Salfords financial benefit (Tarry) if we are relying so much on the corporate business?

Fact is... the stadium is not ours and the owners can do what they like with it. If you want Salford to succeed... it's simple... go and watch them. Salford will continue as Salford as long as people are there to support it. It won't matter what Sale do.... they are renting the stadium... just like we are.

For me... the issues lie a lot deeper than just Sale renting the stadium. We seem intent to look for somebody else to blame for any troubles we have. Fact is.... the people who run the club day to day are those to blame for things like this... and it's the failings over the last 20+ years that leads to this. The stone is set now... even getting shut of those who have made mistakes over the years won't change anything unless a useful investor is found in the area willing to back our club.

Personally... I don't care who else is in there... the day the club went down the route of not owning a stadium was the day I decided not to worry too much about it... it was always going to happen. I've done plenty over the years to help the club... I've given my time and my money... I've seen the care-free attitude of plenty of supporters during the early days of Forever Reds... so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it now... They are in for the next 25 years, and it's not going to change. Just get behind Salford and have done with it.

I can bet a pound to a penny... should a 'super club' be formed with both the Rugby Union and the Rugby League clubs... they won't be taking any of the top dogs at Salford on board... they will have more sense than that.

Surely if we are to stick with Friday nights it just means that we'll be given away fixtures for the weekends the stadium is already in use at the start of the season.

We still stand in the same place don't we? We rent a ground because our owners sold the original and borrowed so much money off the council, the council along with Peel holdings bailed them out by providing a place to play from which they can be paid back all that money in the long term. In the meantime the council and peel can do whatever they want with their stadium. Salford RLFC and its supporters have no say in this matter as far as I can see?

If we're to blame anyone its the Salford board but I would imagine they could have just as easily folded the club on its supporters who I assume they blame apathy on anyway.

The people of Salford couldn't give a monkeys about Salford RLFC and imo Sale have no chance of gaining a wider support from the locals, they will however gain a wider support at Barton from the wider kick and clap brigade in the north.

Presumably, but most seasons there is a back-to-back week at the start of the season where you play either two games at home or away concurrently.

Being garbage on and off the field for 30+ years is why the people of Salford aren't interested. Which is, like you say, a reflection on our management. If we hadn't been so weak in the first place we wouldn't have found ourselves trapped in this corner.

We need to stop this 'there is no interest in RL in Salford' line. It is the sort of comment Tarry & Co use now and will use when they try and drop the Manchester bomb on us in the next few years.

Adversely, if you're of the opinion that keeping this particular club afloat for 20+ years is an accomplishment in itself, you may look to blame a stubbornly uninterested market.

The rest I'm on board with.

True but more chance of back to back home fixtures in union with the extra cup competitions.

To be fair, I don't think anyone will dispute that at all. However some of the statements Sale have made over recent months, coupled with the history lesson of Stockport, show that they are worth worrying about more than any other potential tenants that have been discussed.

To start my post I'm gonna say that I'm not 'for' or 'against' sale sharks moving in, up to now all I've heard that its gonna cut our costs which can only be a good thing! But I've also heard that sale moving in us gonna be the end of salford, all I ask is how? I don't know what sale did to Stockport county that was so bad, if Stockport county were doing so good before sale moved in why would they of sold them there stadium?

But like I said at the start of my post, I'm not for or against, so could someone please clarify why it is so bad that sale have moved in, I've asked a few salford fans at games who are against it already but none have been able to answer it!

Stockport fanzine reaction to Sale moving to Barton:

How??

We're still paying the same amount of rent with or without Sale. Tarry has already said it won't make any difference to us financially.

One thing that has always annoyed me is the promotion of the club. On the BBC there have been several articles about Sale and one thing is the constant sniping at the ridiculous 8000 attendance figure, whatever this figure signifies Cap or Break Even. Instead of being ale to be positive about the % average increase in crowds against what we had at the Willows all we get is "dissapointing" , below the figure they expected etc.
It may be a small thing to some but it impacts on the perception of the Club to the wider world and at the moment the impression we are giving from this and Tarrys comments about Sales moving is good because it reduces costs is of a club in turmoil whose move has not worked.
Obviously the article has links to several websites, bar ours.
I`m more worried about the long term future of the club than ever even had we not got a Franchise, i only hope i`m wrong.

See you all at Hudds !

There is 20 pages of reasons to wade through on here mate.

Gutted, what worries me is people around the area of the stadium who haven't been yet will start going watching Sale regularly I know Eccles RU is nearby and has quite a lot of members (some of my mates play for them as well) they'll definitely be going Sale I think over time it will eventually become their ground.

I'd give it a few months before people refer to it as 'Sale Sharks ground' the passer by probably won't know we play there, someone in the pub last night when the story was on sky sports news said it was 'Salford City FC's new ground'

and that's Salfordians for you.

Got a horrible feeling this is the beginning of the end for us, whether it be some stupid merger or 'super club' under the Manchester moniker or us just being booted out and ending up back in the lower leagues and ending up like Swinton.

I agree however the 8000 figure came from Salford openly quoting it in the press, meaning rightly or wrongly that it is now used to compare our crowds against by the media.

Quote ="irlamreddave"if Stockport county were doing so good before sale moved in why would they of sold them there stadium?'" The idea was to give both clubs more stability, they could work together, share marketing ideas and so on. Stockport were a league club when Sale moved in and doing alright - now they're a non-league club who've had to cut a heck of a lot of cloth in order to survive, even to the point where they may have to move out of Edgeley Park themselves. This article was written in 2009, when things were really starting to go downhill for Stockport: www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion ... 70857.html This bit being standing out for me: "But what Kennedy doesn't seem to understand is that among County's many, many problems, its biggest is its association with Sale Sharks. County's identity is being eaten away by that association. The club is losing its soul."

Quote ="irlamreddave"if Stockport county were doing so good before sale moved in why would they of sold them there stadium?'" The idea was to give both clubs more stability, they could work together, share marketing ideas and so on. Stockport were a league club when Sale moved in and doing alright - now they're a non-league club who've had to cut a heck of a lot of cloth in order to survive, even to the point where they may have to move out of Edgeley Park themselves. This article was written in 2009, when things were really starting to go downhill for Stockport: www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion ... 70857.html This bit being standing out for me: "But what Kennedy doesn't seem to understand is that among County's many, many problems, its biggest is its association with Sale Sharks. County's identity is being eaten away by that association. The club is losing its soul."

Without going into great detail I think what most Salford fans are worried about is a more professional outfit coming in and attracting bigger crowds/publicity etc and basically reducing Salford and rugby league to a second class operation.

OK I'll change it to - 'There is very little interest in RL in Salford' I'm not so sure you could argue against it mate.

Well at least thats a bit of good news.

Think there is some interest in the city Wayne. Whenever I go out people ask me what the score was and how we're doing etc, people in work have even been asking me recently. The problem is people still automatically associate Salford with 30+ years of crap and that's still putting people off. So now we're forever fighting an uphill battle to try and get fans back through the gate.