Sorry to state but the facts are relatively but largely correct.
I had a receipt for the coach (not a ticket) and on turning up was told to get on "this" coach: my receipt was not asked for. I commented on this on the way down suggesting the Crusaders' team could be on the coach for all we knew.

We stopped twice on the way down ... why? ... and the head count was done on the second stop. It was fairly easy as there were only two empty seats anyway. I was not warned about drinking or similar before the journey nor on getting on : however there were complaints after the second stop that bags had been searched and alcohol taken. people were angry at this action and also that they were told by the driver that drinking was OK.

On returning to the coach before 6, it was not where it was parked but about 100 metres away around a corner: on arrival in Cardiff the driver had told me he would be where we were dropped but he had moved for fuel and returned to a different place.
Apparently the lady in charge went back to the spot where we had been dropped and seeing no one, the coach left. Several on the coach wanted this as they were concerned with getting home asap with work the next day.
I calculated 17 missing but others said more like 25.
One of these was on another coach and caught us up at the ONLy stop on the way home.

We had a raffle for a shirt : anyone know if anyone won? I still have my ticket.

For the record, I have ran coach journeys. I have over 25 years of experience of such. I have thought hard about writing up a critique for the club but feel it would be seen ass criticism.

The second stop would have been to have removed any alcohol from the passenger section of the coach, IF the Police would have boarded the coach and discovered alcohol on board the driver and organiser could have been handed a £2000 fine, as you are on the way to a sporting event. It is a regular thing on Football away matches, nearly got caught in Glasgow once but Mr McEye and his dog missed all the emptys.
Strange the rule does not apply to Rugby Union matches.

cheers ...
this clears up that matter:
Still, the young lads around me were adamant they had been given permission from the driver so why stop to catch them out? Better to have made it clear from the ticket issuing situation.

Both you and I (from a shared profession) know how to run a coach trip.

Lets be frank about it the people who run the Salford club are a joke, we had 4 coaches going and you can guarantee we were the only club to make such a balls up of things. At the start of the day when i arrived at the willows know body had a clue which coach to get as there wasn't anyone organizing anything or if there was they were not doing a very good job about it. Five Minutes before the coaches were due to leave two members who were organizing the coaches decide to stroll down instead of getting there a bit earlier. There were people on the coaches that hadn't paid (joke), and people were getting there personal belongings checked while they were of the coach at the services im sorry but you just don't do that.

As for on the way back if people were only 10 minutes late and the coaches had moved then its an utter disgrace that they were left, one coach was apparently half empty, while one was over crowded on the way back, what DI*CK Head let this happen, im no expert but surely that cant meet with health and safety guidelines.

We had 4 coaches, not 84, most other clubs take more than this every other week without any trouble. The people who work in the club shop, its not fu*cking rocket science to put people on a coach. NO OTHER CLUB COULD LET THIS HAPPEN.

Everything Salford seem to do seems to cock up, Forget about McRae for the time being we need to get rid of the dead wood who work for the club and have done for to many years now. The admin side to Salford is a bigger joke than anything at the moment, in all my history of watching the reds we cock up time and time again, how can we attract new supporters with utter numpties like this working for us.

Im sorry for the Rant guys im just sick and tired of the same old people and the same old shi!t happening of the field.

all i can say when you go on salford webiste it clearly says we will bring you back home safe! another lie

Well as an Admin Manager of nigh on 10 years I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than the current postholdef at Salford! As a fan of 20 years I'd like to think I'd be able to carry out my contractual duties with the genuine interests of the fans at heart as well.

Sir John, "My Club Needs Me" and my CV is in the post....... just better make sure I don't address "FAO Admin Manager, SRLFC".

I'm not defending what happened but I would guess that the person who organises your coaches has another two or three jobs to do at the club and has no experience of doing this and untill you all speak up it will not get sorted. At Leigh the coaches are organised not by the club but by the supporters trust LISA and I have to say Lynda does a cracking job and we seem to get a fantastic deal. If there is someone who has experience of doing the job then give it a go. You may end up saving a bit in the process.

I thought the away coach travel was usually organised by Forever Reds. Has this changed recently? If so it could explain why it didn't go smoothly on Sunday.

It isn't.

It's never been organised by FR mate. The Forever Reds Chair often helps run the supporters coach on the day (alas not last weekend). As far as I'm aware (as F.R. vice Chair! ) it's the club money that pays and runs it.

I'd like to suggest procedures to alleviate the issues raised above but I am worriied that such would be seen as carping in the light of our very critical atmosphere: I would like to be positive but the intervention may be seem as hostile.

I knew there was some kind of involvment with the coach travel. Perhaps this explains why it went wrong. Someone new doing it and not knowing what they were doing.

bring back Fieldsends

or abbotts