To quote James May, "Oh c*ck!"

While I agree that Friday might not be best for some when are people going to stop using the lame excuse (Greater Manchester based people) that getting to the ground will be difficult. When has anyone seen excess traffic gone 18:00 on a Friday on the M60? unless there has been a mishap on the motorway the M60 clears a good hour earlier on a Friday.

As most fans will be coming down the A57 corridor that would have very little effect.
In theory the trip to Barton will be no more difficult than getting to the Willows.

I agree with the poster, It will effect our crowds considerably. The club should at the very least reconsider this decision for the Hull games.

To get to The Willows i have to get a train from Warrington to Manchester. Then jump on a tram to Weaste followed by a 2 minute walk to the ground. Easy peasy!! I still don't get home until gone midnight though.

Explain to me how, in theory, getting to Barton will be no more difficult then getting to The Willows for those of us who live out of town and therefore rely on public transport.

You get the 100 down the A57 and walk maybe 500 yards from the bus stop.
Is that not easier for you?

Because...? No reasoning there fella. I suppose football always struggles with its 3pm kick off times

Nope. The bus is not an option. I don't live anywhere near where the 100 goes so i'd have to travel to Warrington Interchange in the town centre adding extra cost and time to a journey that already takes an hour.

Plus from looking at the timetable the last bus home gets into Warrington for 19:31. You can see how that would be a problem.

Are you old enough to remember the UCP shops? UCP stood for United Cattle Products and they sold a lot of tripe, not as much as you come up with though.

Does a club that gives a free shirt with every season ticket put money before fans?

Does a club that has possibly the cheapest child season ticket,including a free shirt put money before fans.

Our regular party has a dozen season tickets and Friday night is the best for us as we can usually all attend the game,whereas on a Sunday due to other activities with the youngsters it is difficult for the majority of us to attend the game together, so we are better with the club going for a Friday night.

Friends prefer a Sunday but will still buy a season ticket and come when they can and whatever day was chosen some people will like it others will not, that's life.

With regards writing to the club, I have on several occasions contacted the club over various matters and replies have normally come quickly and on the odd time that a reply has not been forthcoming I have approached the person concerned personally and got the reply.

You are correct in that we need to improve our gates dramatically but we also have to increase the turnover to a figure above what we can do solely by increasing the gates and that includes the corporate side of things and if we can sell out the boxes and the dining areas there's another 1000 or so spectators before anyone comes through a turnstile.

Our recent gates have been affected by the rugby that we have played on occasions more than playing on a Friday night and hopefully the new coach and his team will improve this aspect of the club.

Get off at Irlam Train station and then get the 67 bus, job done!

Couldn't the club maybe pick and choose which day certain games will be on? For instance, Warrington and Wigan would be good games to have on a Sunday afternoon, whereas Harlequins and Catalans, who have little/no away following, could go on a Friday night.

You’re forgetting the corporate angle. This money is seen as more favourable to away support money. Why? Because it is controllable. The ideal situation for a club is where away support monies is just seen as a bonus rather than a factor in the business plan.

Ahh yeah. I thought a bit about this, having eg. Harlequins on a Friday so the corporate side can make their money. I think they should definitely still have at least of couple Sunday ones, such as for Warrington (if it isn't a Good Friday game), they can easily bring a couple of thousand fans.

Shame really, because I know a Friday night will make things more difficult for a lot of people, buses home in my case.

Can't see many families wanting to bring their kids on a freezing cold Friday night in February. Wouldn't mind Fridays later on in the season but would reckon we would get bigger crowds on a Sunday for the first couple of months, especially if we are aiming at attracting more of a family audience at the new stadium.

I can understand the club wanting money in through the corporate side of things. It does after all bring in large amounts of cash. However when it comes down to franchising one of the main concerns held by the RFL is the lack of numbers on the terrace. It has been singled out as one of the main factors which will influence our next bid.

No matter how you look at it the M60 on a friday night is gonna be much busier than the M60 on a sunday afternoon. The club and JW has stated in the media that they are also hoping to increase bums on seats via away numbers, as they felt large numbers were being put off due to the immediate area of the willows. So it doesn't make sense to make it just as hard for away support to come to away games when the thought of having to travel on the M60 on a fri night after both work and family commitments.

I honestly think the club haven't a clue about what they are doing. They say one thing then contradict themselves with another.

I personally don't care what day we play. Fri night is actually better for me work wise. I do however want the club to do the right thing and get the numbers up. And I think sunday will do that.

And stew argument against sat games. The club suffer bad enough as it is when united etc... are playing at the same time. So it's stupid to think that those Who go and watch united or city etc.... will then rush across to watch Salford? You will be putting the club up against opposition it can't win against on a weekly basis.

Were asking for a few thousand, were not trying to fill old Trafford!!! Saints and Leeds seem to get fans on a Friday night, so why can't we!

Saints and Leeds are good teams

. The best way to increase attendances is to win things. If we start to produce the goods on the pitch, I'm sure our attendances will rise quite significantly, regardless of which day we play on.

Think the answer is in the question there fella...

The sensible option would have been to split your matches between different days , test the water so to speak

Friday night puts you up against the televised match as well

Living down south, I can only get to Friday games by wrong-footing the boss at the end of the week and by promising him that I'm working from home. You [ican[/i get wifi in the stadium, can't you?

BTW, I'm sure it's been said elsewhere on the board, but the article at the head of this topic also mentions Rob Parker not coming back. I can understand the club's decision, but I'm sad about it, considering the massive commitment the big fellow gave to Salford. All the best, Rob.

I come over the M60 fly over every home match from the Wirral and very rarely hit any traffic at all and i've been both early around 5pm and late around 7pm. My issue is my 2 boys under 5 years old who are tired by the time 8pm rolls round. As someone said though you can't please everyone. Whatever time the game is on whatever day some people will not like it.

Win and they will come!

Rush hour is always starts early and finishes early on a Friday, any mass traffic jams are usually done and dusted by 7pm round there AND what kind of crowd we expecting 5-7k not everyone will drive themselves.

I really do think we are trying to spook ourselves into thinking Friday in barton won't work, infact I recon we might get MORE "floaters" as we are on a main transport link and I feel this will work to our advantage.

Agreed!

Yep. The outcomes of the transport survey and the club's solutions are crucial.

It should be an easier trip for you then! Train from Warrington Central get off at Irlam Station, you can then get a bus from there to the ground. The 67 bus runs every 20 minutes in the evening and 100 every half hour, and will stop right opposite the ground! There is a bus stop either side of Irlam station!
Friday night games usually end around 9:40pm that gives you plenty of time to get back to Irlam have a few pints in one of the many pubs and still catch the last train back to Warrington (around 11:35 I think) and you would still get home at your normal time!
Cheaper Travel, pay to Irlam Not Manchester, I cant see the bus fare being much different from the tram, though I dont use either! So I think you would save money as well..


Having said all that I would prefer Sunday afternoon rugby myself

The reason we for the big crowd v Catalan is I feel us fans turned it into a big event by inviting people who may have walked past the willows once in their life, the club helped with £10 pre gateway price and keeping quiet about how much were sold

The week before people were saying "I'm coming and I'm bringing 8 people" ect, there is your Target audience people, the club can only do so much by trying to entice new fans, us the fans are the ones who have the power to create big crowds by inviting people who have fell by the way side over the years, the club have a duty to put a team out who will compete every week so its a two way street.

But the way we market the club / games to our mates though various social media is equally important as what the club do imo to make barton a roaring success.