Marwan must be losing a hell of a lot of money, it's only a matter of time until he walks away.

Regardless of how many other sports clubs Salford are in competition with to get their attendances up they must have the largest catchment area (20 miles radius) in SL.

Sale Sharks have the RFU as a governing body that has built on the long standing popularity of their international game , through media connections and made club level RU an attractive local alternative for spectators.

We have a governing body that completely failed to build on any imputus gained from the last World Cup, and those potential fans went elsewhere.

Let's not pretend that Sale Sharks don't struggle with their attendance either ( avg around 6000), however they do seem to be more able/willing to experiment with the match day experience to see what does/does not work.

Over the last couple of years they have moved kick off days and times a few times , they offer free shuttle buses from the Trafford Centre and have a link up with them offering discounts ( though stadium parking is £10 with the extra £5 paying for the free buses ( I can imagine the hooks on here if people where charged £10 for the carpark)), originally it was who put up the marquee with bar outside, they tried running buses from\back to several pubs around Greater Manchester.

Their is no doubt that the higher profile International RU creates helps attract non rugby fans to an occasional game (Danny Cipriani is not even a England player (nor SS ) anymore but I would guess most non sport fans know the name, Sale put alot of effort into corporate ( Mark Cueto, highest try scorer in AP now in charge of smoozing corporate sales and experience).

World Rugby brought the U20 World Cup to the AJ Bell and gave Sale St holders free entry and handed out thousands of free tickets to schools in Manchester.

Sorry for going on, but what I am trying to say is I often do not understand why Salford seem unable to talk to the people in an office beside them and learn from their !mistakes and try the things that have worked, rather than nothing.

Some mentioned earlier that there are lots of parking at the AJ Bell, there actually isn't. Technically the only stadium parking is the tarmaced bit to the front, the rest are plots for sale ( reported IKEA will take the whole area behind the North stand and the area behind the South has been bought by a car dealership.

The new bridge should have been completed next month, but collapsed when being load tested so when it s now due is anyone's guess, but when it eventually does, if done right the stadium could be one of the best placed to offer a full family day out. Walking distance from to skiing, golf, Trafford Centre, event city, go ape, Lego land, despite. The possibilities are endless if someone with a bit of imagination gets given the job.

If you look back 15 yrs the average attendance in the Zurich Premiership was 6,500, which has now grown steadily to 13,500 for this Aviva Premiership,2015-16 season.

This has been achieved through positive promotion of their product, initiatives such as big stadium double headers, and a thrust from the RFU to popularise their sport.

They also include those double header/big stadium game figures in their club and league averages. Something, bizzarely, we don't do in RL with the Magic Weekend.

But the big rise has been at Leicester and the London clubs, very much on the back of their focus on internationals. Sadly we're still fumbling around in the dark re internationals.

Leicester have always had big crowds and most of the London clubs play outside of London now the richest club Saracens probably have the lowest crowds if you don't count the Wembley/ twickers games

Leicester were stuck at around £17k for years because of their stadium. IIRC Leeds even briefly overtook them as best supported "Rugby" club in around 2005. But then Leicester increased their stadium capacity and I think get around 21k.

Over two and a half hours to get home from Ealing to Kent tonight- at least we won!

Playing at that awful, uninspiring, small stadium in the middle of nowhere won't help.

Whoever made the deal to leave the Willows and move there needs their head examining.

Framing the future, remember it ? some clubs took it seriously and moved to modern stadia and some didn't bother.
As for the location the Council and property magnet "Peel" joined forces and jointly decided it's location.

Exactly that's why I think the London fans are probably the most loyal fans in the game where as all the northern fans have to moan about is getting across the M62 on a Friday night

So did association football, but there crowds have increased in the same period, old Trafford 75k+ every home game

Modern stadium was also a part of the franchising (remember that?) tick box review...

I always wanted to see the evidence base for that. Although I think the RFL just made up most of the criteria on the back of a beer mat.

I've followed Salford for over 30 years. I live local to the stadium (Cadishead/Irlam) and travel to the games by bus with my family.

Irlam and Cadishead have a population of 20,000+ and the Irlam area is literally a mile and a half from the stadium. The end of Cadishead is a further 4 miles from this point... Basically... From the AJ Bell to the end of this catchment area is 5.5 miles.

Other than those who watch regular, ask anybody in this area when there is a home game on and nobody will be able to tell you. Point being... the marketing is dreadful.

Add to that... the fact that it's a pain to get to. After the game, towards this area, you are lucky to get one bus every 30 mins. Last Fridays game... I arrived home after 11pm and I live 4 miles from the stadium. This fact alone would put me off if I didn't feel that I had to go.

I don't blame anybody for not wanting to make the effort.... because quite frankly... it's an effort even for people like me who've watched for so long.

So how does a club like Salford, in a poor location... attract supporters ? Big signings ? Like who ?

The game is in such a slump as far as I can see... that if Salford went out and signed Thurston... most the area would still have no idea who he is.