Fact the Willows was at the heart of the Salford Community which your club represented and sometimes with style.
Barton is a stadium stuck in scrub land in an area purporting to represent Salford which we all know was manufactured by boundary changes in the 70's, it is inaccessible as a walk to stadium and is a nightmare to leave if in a car. A new road will not change the fact that the move to that stadium has stopped the Salford club representing the community it once did.

Pretty much agree with all of this. We might never get the Willows back, but we will always have the memories.

Our highest crowd in recent times was 10k on the last day at the Willows. Yet now we're averaging 3k at Barton and the regime are looking for answers they seem to be wanting to move the club as far away from Weaste as possible. Baffling.

The fact that you agree with Marshy say's it all.

I wish my dear old Nain was still alive today as she used to love Tripe.

The Willows was a hole, nothing more and nothing less, we moved or we perished. It was anachronism and we have gone to a ground with better facilities, the fact that some could stumble from a local pub in Weaste into the Willows was the main concern when moving.

Mario why don't you grow some Cajonies and say you either don't like the Doc or the new regime as that seems to be the main basis of all your arguments.

Where do you get this figure?last season the average was over 4,500.
Someone asked if you are a wigan fan in another thread, are you?
Everything you come out with is negative about salford.

Oh give over Marshy. The only people fretting about what is and isn't Salford are a dwindling band of Swintonians who are still fighting a battle they lost over 40 years ago. Barton, like Swinton, is part of Salford, and has been since before most of the people living in those places were born.

You're OK with scrub land, semi-right about it being inaccessible as a walk (I walk it), wrong about it being a nightmare to leave (at least no more than any other SL stadium car park - obviously, you'll have to take my word for this), and way off mark with the community guff. You missed public transport, which is another factor. What keeps people away more than anything else is that the club has failed, so far, to give them a reason to go.

I hate the AJ bell stadium (as I've mentioned once or twice) but the willows as popular and iconic as it is, isn't the answer. I would love to see a new stadium built in Salford - there is plenty of spaces to go at but till we get decent attendances and genuine interest then it isn't going to happen. two words, vicious and circle.

Red, since the boundary changes took place in the 70's are you suggesting that everyone prior to that happening are now deceased who lived in the area of Barton? As for SL stadia I have been to all of them bar Catalan and it's fair to say Barton is the worst in my opinion.
Public transport..are you suggesting special buses should be operated on match day and because they don't it affects the crowds, I doubt it and without checking this I don't think any other club expects buses to operate in this manor unless paid for by the club itself.
You seem to think I am digging at the Red evils but communities is what made these clubs ....Wigan, Saint Helens and yes Swinton all originally owning stadia which the communities they represented could get to easily and what ever way you wish to look at it Salfords current home is a million miles away from that.

Not wishing to be picky Marshy,


a million miles is a trifle over elaboration, it's 3.9 miles away from all that ...

Central Park ( Tesco ) to the DW Stadium is 2.3 miles

Knowsley Rd to Langtree Park ( Mcmanus Drive ) is 2.4 miles

Now that's picky.

No.. actually it was sarcasm ,

In Truth all this reference to the centre of the community is overstated- it may have been true 70 years ago when the weaste locals & workers from winterbottoms etc would have walked up to the ground of a saturday afternoon.
the flaw in the argument is the stadium moves - Hull Fc - Warrington- Wigan - Saints are of similar milage, and some are equally as difficult to access & park , the main issue here is all the above clubs have had periods of success to maintain or recruit new fanbase to sustain the move.and not had a FA club neighbour to replace them as the community focus .
with the relocation aligned with sustained poor results it will be an uphill battle.
Lots of people on here have alluded that all the fuss & bluster about the AJ Bell would soon dissipate if we actually started playing to our potential .

Barton was a bad move – an enforced move made on the back foot . Salford were struggling to keep themselves emotionally close to the heart and soul of its inhabitants as it was and now they’ve gone and put themselves physically at a distance. Double whammy. Salford need to get on the front foot. They need to extract themselves from Barton, place themselves in a district of THEIR choice and that they are confident will sustain them.They also need a business plan that puts protecting their heritage at the forefront. Forget Superleague Grand Finals – that’s the wrong priority at the moment. But until they shake out this delusion they are a superleague club they are destined for another crisis. The City of Salford is at the edge of the rugby league heartland and the rugby club patently fall between two stools- neither Championship nor Superleague standard . Salford need to cut their cloth accordingly if they want to be around in 5 years time. And accept what they are and what they are not. Otherwise the next bout of inevitable instability and bother will 'do for 'em'

ONS figures for 2011 tell us that around 56% of Salford residents are in the 0-40 age band. None of these people were alive when Swinton and Barton weren't part of Salford. Unless you're able to provide figures of greater granularity, I think we're going to have to assume that 56% of the residents of the Swinton and Barton districts of Salford have never known a time when they weren't part of Salford. It's over Marshy. Swinton is part of Salford. The hole within the greater whole.

Few of them are good, and I don't believe Barton is any worse than, say, the KC. It didn't feel worse when I sat in the car park at the KC earlier this year with the engine off watching a line of cars going nowhere for 20 minutes. That's why, normally, I don't park in stadium car parks.

I'm suggesting nothing of the sort. What I'm saying is that any bus from anywhere in Salford will approach the stadium down the A57; a single carriageway road that becomes a car park when there's a decent crowd at the stadium. Even buses from the Swinton district of Salford - almost due north of the stadium - have to use this route, and I can appreciate why people might be put off by it.

An easy assumption to make when you call us the 'Red evils'.

The community of Salford is the city of Salford, and the new stadium is within the city. You seem to be hankering for a time when people's entire lives were spent within a 100 yard radius of where they were born. That's Royston Vasey thinking. Things have moved on. A journey of 3.9 miles from the Willows to Barton shouldn't be a problem, but, unfortunately, it is at the moment, and the club haven't given people sufficient reason to make that journey. Not yet anyway.

Well Ive read some tripe on these Forums over the years , latterly from the Italian Baker Mario, but the post above certainly gets into the Final.

Look - The Willows is no more, dead, deceased, no more. Can we move on.

The crux is that the Doctors generosity has given us a squad for 2015 which should entertain and win. Its now up to the players to perform and then the crowds will surely follow. If not the Doctor has every right to pack up and move out of town. (or City).

History shows the closer we are to Weaste the higher our attendances are. Going to the other side of Manchester in search of fans contradicts this.

Kind of pointless point to try and make. One has had varied success for over a hundred years the other has had a few seasons. You're comparing dogs and cats.

I understand the feelings for the Willows. I spent a huge chunk of my life invested into the place. But there's no point walking backwards while facing the future.