I have no sympathy with the Salford owners, if youre gonna play at business do it properly, negotiate properly and get yourself a good deal. They only have themselves to blame.

Considering the ground is owned jointly by Salford City Council and Peel Holdings, with Salford and Sale as tenants, I can't see how the RFL could realistically buy it out? The money both companies have tied up in there is ridiculous. No chance.

the RFL don't have the money to do this.....end of story

Imagine how skint they'd be if that fancy stadium with the flash roof had been built. Instead of the bus shelter that was built.

Imagine the rent on that? Jokes

The idea at that point was the ' Super Casino ' would have paid the rent, I seem to recall Cas's drawings had something similar, never happen

They all seem to have grand schemes attached to them - massive hotel complex, conference centres, lobby factories etc..... RL clubs can't build that kind of thing though.

You can't escape the fact that Salford cynically kept promising a beautiful, futuristic looking stadium with a 20k+ capacity and an iconic design. It was done to ensure that during a couple of rounds of franchising they were awarded a licence at the expense of other teams. A lot of fans of those teams will have little sympathy for Salford.

To focus on the facility itself, what was actually built is a dreadful stadium which looks like a slightly more expensive version of South Leeds Stadium - it would be an embarrassment as a home to the English RFL / national side.

Realistically, is a move back to the Willows possible? ie is it still there/do the club still own it?

What makes the SCS any worse than Halton?

The SCS has 2 problems, the car park and the fact that they put seats on the sides and standing on the ends. Should have been like Haliwell Jones, with 1 side seating, 1 side standing, 1 end seating and 1 end (the away end) standing.

The ' lop sided ' nature of the stands makes building an atmosphere difficult, it is a poor design

The willows has been completely demolished. So no chance of ever going back.

Cynically? Are you sure?
The club were drastically unlucky. First the casino plan was quashed. Then neolithic findings were found and had to be excavated. Apparently one of the members behind the company who were to make the "fancy" stadium died. I believe this is one of the reasons why that dream folded. The club then went down the route of getting a teaching establishment on site, but funding went elsewhere. Oh and then this small thing called a recession happened!

As for the ground. If you had seen the plans for phases 2 and 3. The 3rd phases is actually a ground that would be well worthy of being England's RL home!

But if this was to happen then it'd surely become too big for Salford (& Sale) to get anywhere near filling?

Those phases are written into the contract when certain attendance figures are triggered. All the foundations are already in place apparently as part of the initial build.

I agree with your statement. However [iIF[/i the RFL were to purchase the stadia the phase 3 build would be perfect IMO

Ah okay, sounds like a good way of doing it actually.