how would they have got along nicely in an even larger stadium ??? the AJ Bell holds 12,000, the HJ holds 15,200

not that I'm precious about you calling the HJ a small Ground........ its just not as small as many others....

Don't take the criticism of the stadium to heart. Not the Reds fans or teams fault. Everything I've read and heard about the stadium and the access to it suggests it it not a great facility. That's a shame as it will put punters off attending, it seems to keep the Salford fans numbers down, judging by your attendance figures. If the points you made about Salfords lack of control of the match day experience are true, I have to question who signed the deal and why. It must be hurting you financially and limiting your ability to support your on field renaissance long term. The club and its supporters ought to be petitioning the owners of the stadium to improve the match day experience and if you get no joy look for alternatives

They had a perfectly good stadium just off Weaste Road, just needed a bit of tlc and theydve been fine.

I'm sure koukash was saying this the other week

Fletch - whilst youve been in Slade Prison you must have missed the news that the Willows needed £90k pa just to maintain safety standards -thats just for starters -there was no alternative but the good Dr is doing his level best to improve things - a new Road apparently will be built by 2017 to improve the Car Parking problem but
remember there are many other options to park - just read our threads.

I thought the exact same yesterday after my first visit to the AJ Bell. What a bizarre stadium.

Walking up to the place and half constructed roads, marsh land, its like a scene from Call of Duty. Get into the place and its just one cheap ass stadium. Leaves you with the impression of why bother building this e. Location and build the worst in SL. Then you think to yourself a Billionaires Rugby team plays here...makes it more of a joke whether his hands are tied in a lease or not. If Koukash wants to succeed god he needs to get out of that place or develop it more himself!

I'd like to thank all the Leeds fans who have contributed to this topic.
Had any of you taken the opportunity to read the many threads on the Salford board about this very subject you would have found that none of your suggestions or observations have any novelty about them. We have been making these points since first moving to Barton.
The major difficulty that Dr K has in moving elsewhere is that the stadium is jointly owned by Peel Holdings and Salford City Council, the council having controversially invested a fair amount of tax payers money at a time of great austerity in public funding (just in case you hadn't noticed that!). There is considerable speculation therefore as to whether planning permission would ever be forthcoming for another stadium within Salford until the funds provided by the council for the AJ Bell are repaid. Of course that leads directly on to the question of whether or not Salford Red Devils will (or should) remain in Salford - but that is a whole new can of worms.
The option to remain at The Willows was never actually there. The RFL had made it clear to the previous owner that without a shiny new stadium franchise renewal would be to say the least unlikely. On that say so I understand the land was sild to provide working capital to keep the club afloat pending construction and the move to the new stadium.
So, thankyou all for your concern, we as long standing (and certainly long suffering) Salford fans do understand the issues and so, I believe, does our new owner and his management team.

BTW - I enjoyed the match yesterday - Leeds were certainly the better side and deserved the win but in previous years Salford would have capitulated and it would have been a cricket score. It shows that we are heading in the right direction and can produce competetive performances against the top sides. BUT in the first half especially the ref was bewildering!

'Bewildering'...??? that's one way of putting it. Not having a full grasp of the rules, being woefully out of his depth or 'not fit for purpose' are maybe how I would have described that refereeing performance.

I really don't mind the stadium and I thought for 4k the atmosphere was good. Get close to 10k to capacity and the atmosphere will be electric.
The approach and access roads plus the God awful car park are a nightmare. But once access roads are improved should be ok.

Obviously I've not visited the AJ yet,but I always liked and enjoyed going to the Weaste

Surely there was more than 4k there? With the capacity being 12,000, I fail to see how an extra 8k could be crammed in.

Today's league express gave it as 4.4k-ish. I'd guess that as being about right.

You wont find many Salford fans disagreeing with you, it's an awfully designed and constructed stadium in a location that could work quite well had they built more than just the one road in and out prior to completion.

Unfortunately as Salford City Council have a 50% ownership in the stadium with Peel, there is absolutely no chance of them approving another stadium within the City as they would be left with one huge white elephant.

Our only hope is Koukash buying Salford City Council out.

PS - the atmosphere inside the ground is actually really good once there is enough people inside. The attendance vs Wigan on Easter Monday was 6.5k and the place was bouncing.

The HJ has a bigger capacity than the AJ Bell stadium.

Not unlike Headingley then really .