Swinton's current home is actually in a nice location if you ignore the fact it's miles away from Swinton. Sale is a decent place to eat and drink, and you can get there easily by tram. I wouldn't recommend Salford move there though!

Hopefully it can make for financial security and the can developer the ground as it doesn’t look like a SL level stadium at the moment. All depends on marketing move in positive way to grow fan base. AJ Bell not worked from that point of view.

It could be a precursor that they'll be outside the top 10 teams if the split goes ahead, so 5k could be fine for tier 2 (esp. if they forecast a drop in TV revenue too)

It doesn't look to me like they're going to own the ground, unless I'm reading it wrong? It looks like it will be owned by the council, and the club will rent it.

Following Swinton into a nomadic existence in the lower divisions does seem the likely long term future for them. The move from the Willows has been disastrous.

Nothing says Salford and some extent RL is small time than this sutuation. Nothing really wrong with the AJ Bell or its location, the fact Salford despite having a recent rich backer and made both major finals recently, its 12k capacity and 8-10k average should be achievable then the rent is no problem. Salford have failed catastrophically to break 4k average if not 3k, Salford are not right for Suoer League. If they are having to down size then they should down grade a division in favour of Leigh or Fev. With less TV money going around, its harsh but fair that that money should go go clubs who can generate a bigger support.

really the drop in attendance proves the location wasn't right for their fans and a nice shiny stadium wasn't the answer but if they was replaced with Fev you'd have everyone ranting pit village

I don't know how feasible it is, because obviously I appreciate that they don't want to clash fixtures with the football clubs on their doorstep, but I'd like Salford to play as many of their non televised games as possible on weekend afternoons.

With this ground being much easier to get to from central Manchester, it will encourage more away fans from places like Leeds and Hull to see it as a potential day out on the train if it is at 3pm on a weekend. Friday night isn't so ideal for this.

They where hardly ripping it up attendance wise at The Willows, could understand if they where like say Huddersfield or Wigan downsizing from 25k to 12-15k

Fev was just an example if a progressive team who have do every right over the last 5 years or more. Leigh or Widnes would be better addition, but already expressed my view that Franchising would be the way forward.

It was kind of 2K at worst, 6K at best and an average of 4K at the Willows, with the Barton stadium dragging that down towards 3K average. Leigh and Widnes a good shout but reality dictates the best shout isn't based on attendances but rich guys.

So Beaumont and Koukash fit that bill and obviously were the SL chairmens choice......... Leigh averaged 6K in SL as well......

As stated earlier, i think this could actually be a very good move for salford, taking them back nearer to their base who have made it clear they will not travel to Barton to support them.

Barton, plus their recent relative success was a huge opportunity to kick salford on to be a credible SL club, appealing to the wider Manchester area as Sale do. There is no reason why they shouldn't have got averages of 7-9k after their GF success which would have made that stadium easily viable....That should have happened after the grand final (where did those 20k fans who suddenly appeared at OT suddenly disappear to?)
Sadly it seems the stadium location and fierce resistance to losing the 'salford' tag that has held them back from becoming a successful Manchester club, and they have probably now missed that boat!

Staying at Barton they are a sitting duck...no club is going to survive with huge rent costs and no support. The problem is not so much the stadium cost, but the fact that you can't make it viable on the back of 2-3k average attendances. Unless you find a way to push up to 7k plus crowds it is never going to work.

So their hand is forced. ....They will probably push back up to their old averages of circa 4k back in Salford, but the problem is that, in a non SL standard capacity ground of 5k is not good enough for SL. So they will need to moderate their expectations back into the championship / 2nd SL tier imo.

If they are moving back there though, surely there is opportunity also for swinton? Would make much more sense for them both there, and perhaps even looking to purchase that stadium together?

Sale don't appeal to the wider Manchester area. I've lived and worked in Manchester for nearly 19 years and I don't know a single person who supports either Salford or Sale. Sale appeal to the rugby union community around the North West as a whole as they're the only club, but even then they're probably only the fourth best supported "rugby" club in the NW after Wigan, Saints and Wires. They obviously have more money because they play a sport that generates higher revenues than RL does, but they don't have thousands of fans across Manchester.

Salford trying to rebrand as Manchester would be a pointless gimmick that would annoy long standing fans and appeal to no one. Sale actually did it years ago I think, and then reverted back once they realised. Those 20,000 fans at the GF, who probably would have gone to Wembley too had they been able to, will be a combination of lapsed fans who don't go regularly anymore, friends and family of regulars who went along with them, and locals who simply jumped on the bandwagon. Every club has that at finals, it's not exclusive to Salford. The fact that the GF is literally a five minute walk away from the City of Salford boundary, and Man United are by far the best supported sports club there, probably helped too.

I think the location of this ground is far better for the community than Barton is, and I agree it would be good for Swinton too as it is a lot closer for them than their current home in Sale. I worry about the capacity though. Average attendances being lower than that or not, I don't see how 5,000 is sustainable as a Super League venue when you have clubs like Leigh and Widnes playing in the Championship with far more suitable facilities.

Cas and Wakefield have both been hammered for years over their grounds not being up to scratch, but Cas in particular can at least get decent sized crowds in for big games.