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.

Added to the fact that Salford as a city is such a disparate place from which to build a community team it's a collection of boroughs that differ widely as far as demographics and general outlook are concerned. Yes it's a big place with a big population when viewed simplistically but it's complex Irlam and Cadishead were in Lancs not Salford pre 1974 and there was a smattering of support for Warrington at that time. Swinton were obviously also a draw in their own right and of course there is Association Football.

This doesn't let the club off the hook completely as an exiled Wire living there you wouldn't really know that there was a game going on at the AJ Bell they need to get out and about more IMO

Do you guys have any kind of fan forum set up as a liaison between supporters and the club?

This has been the AJ Bell downfall from the start and can be laid firmly at the feet of Salford Council planning.

As will all modern planning they insist on small provision for cars to encourage more use of public transport. The only public transport to the stadium is bus, which at peak is 4 an hour, no one has ever explained to me how they thought 4 buses an hour could transport 12,000 people to and from a stadium. As loyal fan mentions above, it is even worse on exit, when 3-6k fans are supposed to get home by a bus every 20 mins! ( And no, First do not run any extra busses on match days)

Add onto that the unjoined transport system in Manchester, it takes hours to get anywhere. In fact for an evening game you would struggle to get home anywhere beyond the city centre ( even if you did get on a bus at the stadium).

The new canal crossing is now more than 2 years late ( and now further delayed), a tram to the Trafford Centre is 4 years away and even if you able to drive you will spend hours in Fri evening traffic in the never ending roadworks in the area ( being ongoing for 3 years with another 2 to go) non of which is in the hands of Dr K, but those are the reasons Sale moved from a Friday night match, and does not encourage people at a loose end to go see a match. It takes major strategic planning and hence mostly only dedicated fans bother.

I hope that MK realises all this and hence knows marketing to a wider Gtr Manchester audience could be both a waste of money and result in a negative experience. The new bridge was due to open this month ( before it collapsed) but when it eventually does it makes the Trafford Centre ( which is well served by busses from around the region) a 15/20 min walk, or an easy option to run shuttle busses too and opens all sorts of things to make a day out. Hopefully by then he will have got a professional advertising agency on board and go for it.