It looks very impressive! I think I read their budget was a few million more than phase 1 of ours. That said if we ever see phase 3 I'm sure that would look impressive too (With corners filled in and an extra tier of seats).

The only issue with Saints is it's being built on a very small plot for a stadium. This has limited parking to about 90 spaces for a 18K capacity compared to 650 spaces at Barton. They will have saved quite a bit by not spending much on the carpark and landscaping. I've heard some Saints fans say people can park in the centre of town and walk but that doesn't lend itself to some older people with walking difficulties.

It should not really be an issue. The stadium is only 10-15 mins walk from the town centre bus and train stations along with the multi storey car parks there.
In addition the new stadium is fully compliant with disability legislation so has ample parking for disabled badge holders.
There are also currently electric buses that run to the various retail parks around the site and will no doubt run to the Tesco/Stadium site to aid people with mobility difficulties.

Access should therefore be far better than Knowsley road or most other stadiums.

Put it this way Salfords 500 onsite car parking spaces is better than the new Saints stadium has. However once that car park is full, where else is there to park in the locale eg within 15 mins of the stadium?

I 'm sure people will find their way there but it's not ideal to have only 90-100 spaces for a new stadium of this capacity. I noticed there are large sponsors lounges and private boxes, where are all your corporate customers going to park? A club sponsor expects a parking spot with the sponsorship package. Surely most of your parking will be taken up by the home & away directors, players, match officials, staff and disabled spaces etc. Please don't interpret this as a dig your stadium looks very impressive and is fantastic for RL and I welcome it. I was just highlighting an issue where the ideal situation would be to have more parking next to the ground.

For your info the parking at Barton is for 650 cars not 500 plus there will be several coach spaces for away supporters. I heard the plan was to also run shuttle buses from the Trafford Centre. Further to this the Peel Green residential area is literally a 5-10 minute walk.

I think over the coming years there are also plans for the Metrolink tram network to be extended to the Trafford Centre, with a possible junction to the new stadium.

Don't forget we also have an airport within a stone's throw for all our VIPs to arrive by helicopter, private plane or microlight!
Beat that!

Don't forget the Manchester Ship Canal - big enough for the largest luxury yachts.

There’s a lot of talk on the Sale Sharks message board of us moving to your new stadium in a ground-share deal.

Dare I ask!!….. What are the thoughts of the Salford Reds fans ground sharing with Sale Sharks??

dont let the sharks in, united reserves

Football over my dead body.
Said it before and I'll say it again two rugby teams in thier repsective top divisions can only be a good thing when it comes to brain storming and player training.

to be honest i think i would rather united reserves were in there! wont ruin the ground as much, possibly get a bigger crowd watching them than a sale side that are really really struggling on all fronts at the minute
plus it wont damage the pitch nowhere near as much as rugby yawnion would

I agree with you that it would have been better to have more car parking spaces, if only for the corporate dollar than anyone else. However lack of car parking spaces doesnt appear to affect football clubs or RU clubs in getting the prawn sandwich brigade to watch their respective sports.

It would not surprise me if there becomes a demand from the corporate sector, that Saints enter into an agreement with Tescos or someone else close by, to utilise some of their car parking spaces, probably for a small fee of course.

The actual car park has 91 regular spaces and 57 disabled spaces, along with two coach spaces for visiting teams.
This is not including space for the TV vehicles. I understand that in none TV matches this opens up 34 more car parking spaces.

Back to Salford. If they do run shuttle buses from the Trafford centre that will be fantastic. Hope the trafford centre allow this, as i do think it would encourage families to do a bit of shopping and then go the RL.

RE ground shae with Sale: www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... b/8446116/ interesting

RE ground shae with Sale: www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... b/8446116/ interesting

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -game.html try this

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -game.html try this

I personally think the article confirms what I've said for a long while that two professional rugby clubs under one roof would be a good thing. You wouldn't need the same amount of staff on the clerical level and surely a shared training and academy program would be more cost effective.

I know some don't like the idea because it's RU as I would hate the club to tie in with football but in the long run think that the council will have the final say and can any of us say that all year round use isn't going to be better for the council to make a profit from the stadium?

The sooner the stadium can break even the sooner SCR will be able to make money out of it , either by reduced rental or shares of income streams , what you have to ask yourselves is what damage could they do to your potential fan base or corporate support , or what benefit you could draw from their support , both fan and corporate , personally I'd say it's a no brainer , it would make the stadium more financially viable