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ok a member of the fax squad next year

Cheers, Fatboy! Hey, Salford is famous for summat, was it Chaz and Dave who sang about those matchstalk cats and dogs on "Salford's smokey tops"?

Indeed you are correct, Fax Machine! And here are the lyrics if anyone fancies a sing a long smokey tops
On cardboard boxes from the shops
And parts of ancoats where I used to play
I'm sure he once walked down our street
Cause he painted kids who had nowt on their feet
The clothes we wore had all see better days
Now they said his works of art were dull
No room all round the walls are full
But Lowry didn't care much anyway
They said he just paints cats and dogs
And matchstalk men in boots and clogs
And Lowry said that's just the way they'll stay

And he painted matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He painted kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them factory gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

Now canvas and brushes were wearing thin
When London started calling him
To come on down and wear the old flat cap
They said tell us all about your ways
And all about them Salford days
Is it true you're just an ordinary chap

And he painted matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He painted kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them factory gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

Now Lowry's hang upon the wall
Beside the greatest of them all
And even the Mona Lisa takes a bow
This tired old man with hair like snow
Told northern folk its time to go
The fever came and the good lord mopped his brow

And he left us matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He left us kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them pearly gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

And he left us matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He left us kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them pearly gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

And he left us matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He left us kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them pearly gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

And he left us matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He left us kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs
Now he takes his brush and he waits outside them pearly gates
To paint his matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs"

Salford's new stadium news: 2002 news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_u ... 958244.stm 2005 news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 447190.stm We have every right to point out about a clubs inability to complete/begin building of a new stadium. We accepted it for years, but it's finally resolved... unlike some that have been pipe dreams for at least 7yrs!

Salford's new stadium news: 2002 news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_u ... 958244.stm 2005 news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 447190.stm We have every right to point out about a clubs inability to complete/begin building of a new stadium. We accepted it for years, but it's finally resolved... unlike some that have been pipe dreams for at least 7yrs!

Precisely my point.

The Salford Stadium situation has been a huge source of annoyance and embarrassment for years at the Willows. No-one at the club, or who supports the club, can pretend that they're even vaguely happy with the pace of progress towards us having a new ground.

However, how/why anyone feels the need to ridicule us over it, particularly fans of a club who've had similar frustrations over their ground, frankly baffles me?!

Nice to see you've got a sensible, reasonable view on the matter, which restored my faith in Fax fans. Shame it's not rubbed off on your comrades - there are some right eejits on this thread?!

There is an unpleasant and hypocritical element within rugby league at the moment that loves to criticise other clubs gounds and use it as a justification as to why their club is better, more attractive, more viable or most often, should be in super league ahead of others.

If we are objective about what makes a successful rugby club, where should the stadia facilities be in the list of priorities? Ahead of sqaud strength? - no, ahead of youth development? - no, ahead of financial stability? - no, ahead of fan base and community relations? - deffo no!

So to be honest, it pretty much at the bottom of a clubs list of priorities. And rightly so, if a ground is safe, sells beer and food and keeps the rain off you I couldn't care less if it has a capacity of 20k coz no one in RL gets those crowds, I don't care about electronic turnstiles or conferance facilities. These are just invented criteria to give Super League Europe reasons to exclude the clubs they dont want yet they waive them as they see fit.

Finally, if you look at the clubs in rugby league which meet these criteria, how many of them own the ground they play in? I will tell you, NONE. They may own a share in the ground but no one club owns a ground of acceptable standard. Many own nothing! yourselves being one. So please do not use the state of a clubs ground as basis for criticism as it is in many situations its a case of people in "other peoples" glass houses throwing stones!

Your ground is rubbish and isn't fit for the Championship, let alone SL, in my opinion.

thread gone a bit off track from being about a player to grounds.

Ahh touchê

I've got to agree with the post a little further up: it's gone off topic by 'a country mile'.

Time to let this go to bed, now, methinks.

Locked.