I noticed the crowd was a meagre 4,300 for Sale Sharks first home game at the AJ Bellend last weekend..some fan on their board said it was more like 3.5k ..and the opening game crowds are declining year on year ..they seem to be in a similar position to us in attracting fans in what is a predominant football area and possibly the poor showing of the National RU side had some bearing?? instead of building momentum and enthusiasm for the sport ..some folk feel a bit flat?

Interesting thread:

1. The marquee, with proper bar and ale, tv's, heated (shark tank) is a stadium thing not Sale, which will be there for their whole season ( which surely leads to why they don't do similar for the Reds)
2. Why compare crowds? Sale opening crowd of 4500, in middle of RWC where people have paid £000's probably looks good compared to our crowd.
3. As someone else mentioned Sale owner has sold EP so they won't return there. The reason they moved was because they were being fined 6 figure numbers a year as it didn't meet min standards.(RL supposedly had those years ago, hence our move while Cas, Wakey just ignored them and they have now been dropped)
4. Rather than running Sale down, why do we not look at what they do well and copy it?
Eg. They charge extra for stadium car park and use the money to run FREE shuttle buses to the Trafford Centre.

Their average crowd last year was nearly 7k so rather than hating maybe we should look at what they do and copy the good bits?

Just a thought

Ok wasn't aware that Edley park had been sold, just leaves them with a big training complex at Carrington then.

From speaking to Sale fans i still think they've embraced the move alot more than we have, obviously the main gripe has been access to / from but this is to be eased pretty soon.

Apart from that they seem to enjoy their stadium experience, what's the difference?

They've been nomads for years, so a modern, settled venue seems more appealing to them. We've just had the loss of a spiritual home, and Salford fans have had trouble adjusting. They make the most out of what's available, we mope around about what we've not got.

Think you've possibly hit the nail there Butcher

Many Salford fans are moaning b'stards?

I never see that much of a difference when you leave the Pie Dome after a game and shlep to the train station to get an impossibly early last bus towards civilisation.

We have a cracking modern stadium, next to a motorway junction, onsite bespoke training facilities for the players, a huge new pub on the doorstep, a link road directly taking you to the Chav window shopping mecca of Manchester 6 months from completion and the pies they sell at half time deserve a thread of their own

We could have gold taps, vibrating lazy boy seats, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pit as personal fluffers and our own on site brewery and some would complain.