I would love to know where all these facts about playing budgets and ground costs come from.? I have it from a very reliable source that next years budget is exactly the same as this year. By off loading some off the high earners MP obviously is moving towards youth-- players who are hungry--, not some of the has beens we signed last year, or those who came to us crocked. JW has probably been shocked by what MP has told him and that changes are needed urgently, as i am sure no one else has had the balls to tell him. What he does now will determine the future of our great club, either MP is backed to the hilt , or he dismisses MP and the club will become more of a laughing stock than it already is and the future will be very grim for all of us. Having watched Salford for over 45 years all i want is to see us getting better, and for me this will only happen with MP at the helm bringing the changes we need to match the proffesionalism of Wigan/ Saints/ Warrington etc. JW the ball is firmly in your court.

I think Iain is bang on the money there. Had to think twice about it, but I'm sure Brown made his debut in the 16-6 revenge victory at home vs Sheffield, live on grandstand. In our first Joe Bloggs kit.

Top player was Brown. Him, Deadman, Jim Smith and Jason Nichol stand out in that era for me, I especially remember Skull smoking a cig in the Variety Centre, at the entrance near Weaste Lane on the ground side, and it was at that point I realised we weren't as professional as we should be as a club, hopefully that will now change.

You forget don't you it all blurs into one alcoholic dream for me was it not john Harvey?

Harder stuff than that if you caught a few of them on a night out.

Sorry Iain - He wasnt with us in 1999

Just shows how memories get muxed up! Thinking back now it must have been Xmas 2003 that I spoke to Simmsy and a quick google search revealed that for the 2004 season we had struck a deal for Dane Carlaw (but that eventually didn't happen) and Sean Rutgerson was removed from our overseas quota because of his SA roots. I can't remeber who else we'd signed that year.

In terms of signing Borgese from Youtube, perhaps things have slipped since he came on board, who knows? The Bailey signing surely must have been down to McRae's say so - i.e. McRae says he wants him and Steve makes the numbers work?

Finally, the clause in the contract about the overseas players coming back later. I've been doing some thinking about that and wondered whether it was a deliberate negotiation point, i.e. we say to a prospective sigining 'look, we haven't got the money to pay you the same rates as the big boys but if you sign with us you're guarenteed a longer break back home in the off season.' I know that's probably self-defeating but it may explain why it was done. If it isn't a negotiation point and we're paying the same or nearly the same as other clubs then I can understand why Parish has seen his a*rse about it!