What is a concern, and should be a concern to the club, is that as I was walking quickly back to Peel Green on Saturday and overtook various groups of fans heading away from the ground, I overheard 5 different groups talking along the lines of "I'm not spending any more of my hard earned on that", "if that's what we're serving up I won't be coming back here".

Any other year this is only a friendly - this year it's history now written (stuffed in first game at stadium) and was the chance to wipe the slate clean and put a year of turmoil behind us. What actually happened was that lots of people who've become gradually more and more ground down with the last few years, but were giving the new era a go, have now had that bubble of enthusiasm burst, trodden on, rubbed in some dogturd, and kicked down a grid.

tarry+simms out now! the club is the joke of rugby league!x

Too few of us close with a kiss. x

Best post I've read on a long and depressing thread

Agreed however Jim Jalfrezi's post took some beating I read it last night but he seems to have withdrawn it for some reason ????

Looks like Jim cut it himself.

Agreed.

My Uncle who has not been in a few years attended the last game at the willows and the Leigh game, he was going to get a season ticket this year but guess what he text my mum the day after the game, what did it say you can guess something along the lines of "Im not bothering with that season ticket" and who can blame him two insulting performances".

Im dreading the attendance at the Halifax game on Sunday, as you say Ian my dad only said to me tonight "If you think im going to the Halifax game after Saturday you've got another think coming, im sick of it im not wasting my money". Not to mention my mum and two sisters who now after Saturday wont be going.

After all the negativity and the disgraceful showing against Catalan last game, beating Leigh was important even if only a friendly.

If it's any consolation and just to cheer you up The Champions were beaten yesterday in there new rented stadium.

But i will say they did give 100% against the super league newcomers, on the bright side our lights didn't fail either.

I'll also say that despite Leigh sports village being a good stadium, i think i much prefer the atmosphere of playing at the Willows last year.

I hope your lot can turn this around because clearly there a lot of passionate fans feeling very let down reading your posts.Good luck.

I really cannot believe some forumites are actually blaming the salford public and businessmen for the club being in it's current state. That is a ridiculas statement. Have you ever wondered why?. The Salford public vote with their feet to the product which is on offer. Which, has been nothing higher than shambolic for 3 decades, businessmen are risk takers with an eye for an opportunity, they have obviously found Salford and the board and what their selling distasteful. If i had vast's amount of hard earned there's no way on gods earth i'd invest with JW in the hotseat, especially with his track record of fiasco's and failings, past and present also, i couldn't justify paying them two ijit's beside him one single penny for what they do.

JW; DT should be banging the drum around the South Manchester area's or at the very least have a PR strategy within a 5-10 mile radius of the stadium maybe more, billboards, flyers, special offers, enjoyable stadium open day tours for school kids, radio, community rugby league fayres, holding rugby league training campus's, competitions in schools with players taking part in all communities within a radius of the stadium, or even by employing a Salford legend or an ex player taking on a embassador role with an introduced targeted programme . I know we have JB working hard in the community but he probably has enough on his plate locally or they could work in tandom. It really can't cost that much in JW's world, this is just the tip of the iceberg for idea's, we should be doing at least something rather than a big fat nothing, with the excuses;

a) It costs too much we've tried it.
(bollox you didn't try hard enough)

b) Most of the budget goes on players.
(change the budget. The players signed really are'nt good enough to support this)

With the new stadium, new start, new era the powers that be really should be seen trying to do something, rather than nothing with the above. But a big marketing, promotion and advertised push has to be matched with good results on the field to which is why these friendlies were important regarding generating the public's interest. I feel Salford have blown this massive opportunity and who can blame the salford public and businessmen for badly misjudged, mismanaged runnings of this once great club,The same old excuses don't wash anymore with restraints and budgets. In 30 years weve gone from a respected great club to a laughing stock to which apparently the Salford public and businessmen are to blame in peoples eyes not the driver.

Feel free to return there Marshy....

I certainly did, as I thought I would tale some stick due not being able to watch the team personally for a while. Glad someone enjoyed it anyhow, sadly it was far too long to do it again

DI I share your passion for success but I think your one dimensional thinking and persistent blame mentality has made you totally miss the point. The point being that after 30 years with no change of ownership it would be very refreshing if somebody else took control of the club, had a clear out and appointed their own people to run it. Surely it's a perfect time with the new stadium for a young, energetic and proud Salfordian with financial clout to take the reigns and try to take the club to the next level. Jaw has been quoted on several occasions saying he would gladly step down from the board should the right person(s) with good intentions come forward.

And before you bother to tell me that nobody would want to buy it 'because of the way you thinks it's been run' I would argue that it would be more challenging and rewarding for someone than taking over a successful club. Why did Sheikh Mansou buy Man City?

The marketing ideas you put in the rest of your post are the sort of things most of us would like to see. The point quoted above is why they don't happen. The club hasn't got much money and has chosen - correctly, in my opinion - to spend as much as it can on the squad in the hope that a winning team will bring fans in. The fact that it's still a relatively weak squad shows how little money the club has. The alternative that you seem to be suggesting - spend less on the squad and more on marketing - means, inevitably, a weaker squad, so you end up spending a lot of money marketing a team that's getting tonked every week (and, despite what you no doubt think, the current squad won't get tonked every week, only [imost[/i weeks). I doubt that any amount of marketing would bring people in to watch such an uncompetitive team.

So that's the problem. The club has no money to spend. You want to blame the chairman, the board, the CEO, whoever. For me, these are the people (the [ionly[/i people, unfortunately) who stand between us and oblivion, because they're having to put their own money in to keep the club afloat in the face of massive public indifference. It's the public indifference that's the problem: only 2800 people turned up to watch the first senior game at the new stadium. Salfordians don't seem to be too interested in the club, or the sport as a whole. I don't think any amount of bleating about the chairman is going to change that.

I think the main reason so many supporters are so disillusioned is not because of JW or the rest of the Board OR our pathetic marketing OR even leaving the Willows to our newly rented blue seated stadium. It's the complete lack of pride and passion in our performances.

Not many booed when KH was in charge or the likes of Sean Rutgerson, Mal Alker or Paul Highton were playing. We lost many games, yes. But generally we had some fight about us. Since the Slug was appointed and latterly PV, we have been turning out like lambs to the slaughter.

Not many Salfordians can relate to such meekness. Matt Parrish, like him or loath him showed that fire and passion and ignited the same in our fans. What happened? The men in suits shat theirselves and got rid! Well what's left is there for all to see, (A bunch of losers!)...............and tame ones at that. Who wants to be associated with a team like this?

Theredshed,you say Wilkinson has said he would go If the right person came forward,If he picks the a new owner god help us,It will be more of the same,in my opinion.Its Mr Wilkinson who as made all calls,picked all the coaches,give us a
Director of Rugby who is in my opinion a drain on the clubs finance,so why should every one else take the rap,and not he
It his not for us to tell him how to spend is money,but even with the finances we have got, the show could have been run an lot better,I no he gets stick on this forum,but its my opinion,that Dantes is right on this,and further more would
Mr Wilkinson really want to go,or is the pull of being Mr Salford to great