Not wishing to be picky Marshy,


a million miles is a trifle over elaboration, it's 3.9 miles away from all that ...

Central Park ( Tesco ) to the DW Stadium is 2.3 miles

Knowsley Rd to Langtree Park ( Mcmanus Drive ) is 2.4 miles

Now that's picky.

No.. actually it was sarcasm ,

In Truth all this reference to the centre of the community is overstated- it may have been true 70 years ago when the weaste locals & workers from winterbottoms etc would have walked up to the ground of a saturday afternoon.
the flaw in the argument is the stadium moves - Hull Fc - Warrington- Wigan - Saints are of similar milage, and some are equally as difficult to access & park , the main issue here is all the above clubs have had periods of success to maintain or recruit new fanbase to sustain the move.and not had a FA club neighbour to replace them as the community focus .
with the relocation aligned with sustained poor results it will be an uphill battle.
Lots of people on here have alluded that all the fuss & bluster about the AJ Bell would soon dissipate if we actually started playing to our potential .

Barton was a bad move – an enforced move made on the back foot . Salford were struggling to keep themselves emotionally close to the heart and soul of its inhabitants as it was and now they’ve gone and put themselves physically at a distance. Double whammy. Salford need to get on the front foot. They need to extract themselves from Barton, place themselves in a district of THEIR choice and that they are confident will sustain them.They also need a business plan that puts protecting their heritage at the forefront. Forget Superleague Grand Finals – that’s the wrong priority at the moment. But until they shake out this delusion they are a superleague club they are destined for another crisis. The City of Salford is at the edge of the rugby league heartland and the rugby club patently fall between two stools- neither Championship nor Superleague standard . Salford need to cut their cloth accordingly if they want to be around in 5 years time. And accept what they are and what they are not. Otherwise the next bout of inevitable instability and bother will 'do for 'em'

ONS figures for 2011 tell us that around 56% of Salford residents are in the 0-40 age band. None of these people were alive when Swinton and Barton weren't part of Salford. Unless you're able to provide figures of greater granularity, I think we're going to have to assume that 56% of the residents of the Swinton and Barton districts of Salford have never known a time when they weren't part of Salford. It's over Marshy. Swinton is part of Salford. The hole within the greater whole.

Few of them are good, and I don't believe Barton is any worse than, say, the KC. It didn't feel worse when I sat in the car park at the KC earlier this year with the engine off watching a line of cars going nowhere for 20 minutes. That's why, normally, I don't park in stadium car parks.

I'm suggesting nothing of the sort. What I'm saying is that any bus from anywhere in Salford will approach the stadium down the A57; a single carriageway road that becomes a car park when there's a decent crowd at the stadium. Even buses from the Swinton district of Salford - almost due north of the stadium - have to use this route, and I can appreciate why people might be put off by it.

An easy assumption to make when you call us the 'Red evils'.

The community of Salford is the city of Salford, and the new stadium is within the city. You seem to be hankering for a time when people's entire lives were spent within a 100 yard radius of where they were born. That's Royston Vasey thinking. Things have moved on. A journey of 3.9 miles from the Willows to Barton shouldn't be a problem, but, unfortunately, it is at the moment, and the club haven't given people sufficient reason to make that journey. Not yet anyway.

Well Ive read some tripe on these Forums over the years , latterly from the Italian Baker Mario, but the post above certainly gets into the Final.

Look - The Willows is no more, dead, deceased, no more. Can we move on.

The crux is that the Doctors generosity has given us a squad for 2015 which should entertain and win. Its now up to the players to perform and then the crowds will surely follow. If not the Doctor has every right to pack up and move out of town. (or City).

History shows the closer we are to Weaste the higher our attendances are. Going to the other side of Manchester in search of fans contradicts this.

Kind of pointless point to try and make. One has had varied success for over a hundred years the other has had a few seasons. You're comparing dogs and cats.

I understand the feelings for the Willows. I spent a huge chunk of my life invested into the place. But there's no point walking backwards while facing the future.

Rugby league is currently spent in these parts. MK’s interest can't hide the real situation. Too many years floundering and letting football, basically Man U , hoover up new sports interest. Its profile is pretty much bouncing along the bottom. Grassroots is shrivelling – amalgamations at junior level tell you everything. You will never reverse the trend of twenty + years of decline just like that – even if Salford suddenly find a winning team. Consistent big crowds ain’t never going to happen again – anytime soon. And certainly not at Barton. Rugby league is a parochial game it needs to be close to a critical mass of solid support. Where is Salford’s critical mass of support? – Its certainly not Swinton, Worsley , Eccles, Irlam etc- supposedly districts of Salford but hardly teeming with Salford support. The indifference and detachment from Salford rugby is a mirror of the widespread indifference and detachment from Salford as a place . It will take another few years to fix that one – if it can be fixed at all. Salford’s sojourn at Barton is doomed to end in tears on the current trajectory. They may as well get ahead of it and have a plan in place to preserve something. Something they can build from again. And something more secure.

yes

A Panjandrum basically is a `know all`. What we have here though is a self confessed `Big Know all`. Dearie me.

If the lad was fighting in 1946 then we would all be speaking German. Come on lad show a bit of positivity. As the Butcher says - look forward not back.

Sale somehow still get 4700 to watch their inferior game. That must be our initial average target though the fixture list was obviously prepared by Nigel Wood to keep MK in a Mr Angry mode.

If we can aim for an equivalent start of 7,000 as with the Wakey game AND put up a decent show I feel very optimistic about the future and thats why imo The Big P is well wide of the mark.

This is spot on.

Are you a Salford fan Mario, a question you've been asked a couple of times but studiously avoided.

I am no fan of the Barton stadium and very critical of its placement.
However I have no choice in where the club play: I either accept it or move away to another pursuit. Nor have I a say in the team selection, the tactics we follow or the price of the half-time pie.
I therefore, as with much of my life, accept things are not perfect.

A ground I really miss is Watersheddings but no one can regret that mixed aroma of hot dogs with onions and old urine that wafted from the left corner of the home stand (Ripponden Road end) (the burger seller was beside the toilet). We had a similar issue in the '70's at the Willows (Wortley Avenue entrance).

Nostalgia always makes imperfection good.

How many Salford fans actually come from/live in Weaste?

I seem to remember there was once a poll taken asking where fans lived. I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that very few people actually lived in Weaste.

So the whole 'heart of the community' argument doesn't do anything for me.

I don't live in Salford, nor do a lot of other fans.

This is pretty spot on.

Its an Urban Myth isnt it?

And some of us are not even English, or live in the Salford, let alone Greater Manchester area

Are you the lad with the tartan hat, ginger hair who wears a skirt



I think the Weaste thing was true decades ago when people traveled less and tended to live in the same area all of their lives, now as the suburbs grow people radiate outwards. What Salford as a club should be doing is trying to tap into the new communities in the city, the Polish community is one i would look at as apart from anything else the guys tend too be on the bigger side and would in my mind make ideal RL players.

Och aye ma wee dumpling, eh is thon fine specimen oa sexiness that ye thot aa wis!!!!!

And you're spot on with the Eastern European communities, definitely of the breed that would take to the sport from both playing and spectating view

Cows fecal matter.. It's cold & dark there's no rugby League on... that's when all the trolls come out to play ..

the Salford 70's side was successful & well attended at the same time as Man-U in the George Best Dennis Law years.
It doesn't preclude a dominant Soccer team automatically means no other sport has a chance . We like to blame the nickname stealing neighbours , but he truth of it is we've been a poor performing club for decades .

Weak Grassroots Rugby L , is more an indictment on Barla & the RFL than the professional clubs ,
Warrington isn't exactly a hotbed of grassroots rugby , yet they have a reasonable attendance & silverware , initially from a mercenary side brought in to do a job.
We just need to get off our behinds and attend, and the team needs to get Into the habit of winning 3,4 or 5 in a row and most of these insurmountable issues won't be issues at all

Quote ="The Perry Boy"How many Salford fans actually come from/live in Weaste? I seem to remember there was once a poll taken asking where fans lived. I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that very few people actually lived in Weaste. So the whole 'heart of the community' argument doesn't do anything for me. I don't live in Salford, nor do a lot of other fans.'" Let's go again... viewtopic.php?f=20&t=576506

Quote ="The Perry Boy"How many Salford fans actually come from/live in Weaste? I seem to remember there was once a poll taken asking where fans lived. I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that very few people actually lived in Weaste. So the whole 'heart of the community' argument doesn't do anything for me. I don't live in Salford, nor do a lot of other fans.'" Let's go again... viewtopic.php?f=20&t=576506

Ahh but my best mate in the whole of RL land Mich the red wants to tap in to communities so there must be some mileage in it.

The club needs to have a big promotional push to all the resident living within a two mile radius of the stadium.

Can't see a huge uptake from the flyover nor from Barton Aerodrome but hey you are tucked in at the heartlands of Salford.... Massive community and all.