Someone on Facebook seems to be suggesting that the devil imagery is putting people off.

The money spent assembling the team is nothing more than a bigger foundation for the club to grow going forward. The investment offers nothing more than potential right now.

I don’t entirely buy these comments about boat loads of stay away fans because of past failures, what fans? With respect we have played in three Challenge Cup semi-finals since 1988 and only managed to take about 5000-5500 fans. That’s shockingly disappointing for a city the size of Salford.

We’ve had a poor following now since the late 1960’s after row after row of terraced housing in the area was bulldozed to the ground and many Salfordian’s moved further away to other parts of the city like Little Hulton and Irlam.

The only way to increase the fanbase significantly is to win some major silverware and have an extremely entertaining team with a few superstars that people will pay to watch.

That's just about the limit of what he can do to lift our crowds though, so his disappointment is understandable. Obviously if that investment pays dividends on the field we'll all expect numbers to increase but I don't think the Doc's alone in hoping all that media attention and numerous personal appearances/pleas would have attracted more customers.

Season Tickets for the East Stand aren't fixed this season, so casual fans can sit with mates.

Secondly people still have money concerns and the stability of the club following on from the 5 year deal not honoured news may cause concern.

Lastly many years of neglect and disillusionment of fans will take something to overcome. I've had a seasonticket for many years but still thought hard about whether to renew. If you miss a couple of games then it isn't a great deal.

The walk up crowd is the important bit, make the experience one not to be missed.

I've said before, a lot of people can't commit to a season ticket with work commitments and matches being spread over different days. You'll see the majority of supporters paying as they go.

I am disappointed the Dr is disappointed but in the defence of the non-season ticket holders for 2014 there are a number of possible reasons for their procrastination.
With the Red Devilution not getting underway until 5th September it meant season tickets had been purchased by the followers of the soccer clubs nearby.Then the most expensive time of the year;for those with/without children and paying utility bills.
The uncertainty of the RFL/Super league clubs meeting - will a top 8 place still mean play-offs ? Will there be relegation ? Will the salary cap be removed ? Will there be a breakaway ?
A possible lack of research - given the limited timescale may also be a factor - even our first opponents in 2014 have done it rlin the pastrl

I am sure things will improve as the year and the team,progresses. ( I shall try for those posters,shortly - again ! )

I think 2500k STs is great for a club at this stage of a re-birth. How many starting Test players do you have? A couple of England squad players and one former England player.

The marquee players aren't quite good enough to guarantee real success yet.

London had 700 ST holders last year and our home crowds were similar to yours. If you've already got 2500 ST holders you should comfortably get 5k averages which is excellent, it's concerning that the Dr. doesn't see that as good progress.

Indeed.

London's average attendance was 2200 (ish) last season. If they sold 700 season tickets, then their average attendance to season ticket ratio was 22/7. If Salford's ratio is similar, we'd be looking at an average attendance of about 7850 next season. Can't see too many people complaining about that.

At this rate we'll have drunk at more last chance Saloons that Shane MacGowan...

Judging by the reported season pass sales the Dr / Club has done a great job on galvanizing the core support.

open days & info through facebook twitter he is preaching to the converted, ie fans who actively seek out news & info .

expressing ' disappointment ' at this stage ( 39 days before the opening fixture ) seems counter productive , and contra to the ' more goods news ' policy .

After all so far all the marketing has been word of mouth and viral , now the club is asking the same people being criticized to paper the town with posters & cajole colleagues and friends to attend. ... they're aren't going going to fork out for a season pass < £200 on a say so before a tackle has been made .. no way.
If you are a new or lapsed supporter , what news would you have seen would you have seen , if you didn't read the local rag or visit the club web pages?
traditionally the Weaste crowd was a walk up attendance, so there's no past history of massive season ticket sales even in the good times.

I would be more concerned to address the cash turnstile problem & the AJ Bell & transport /Access to the Stadium.

In the Film industry 50 % of a new movies budget is put aside to publicize it .:- Movie costs $100M , spend another $50 Million to tell everyone about it . you'd laugh if some invested millions in a Film Budget but balked at investing in advertising and relied in viral - word of mouth info to make the film a success, then complaining pre sales aren't as big as they they hoped a month before the films release..
yet we have a club investing million/s , and marketing budget cannot be ignored,

For some big games last season I remember Wigan running TV adverts in the NW Granada Area..

I no saying we have to go to these lengths in order to get the word out , but at least exhaust all areas of marketing and closer to game time before they run up the white flag.

there's great progress so far and it still good news from what I can see , but they need to cast their net wider.

I have just realised we are 10 days into 2014 and I have not wished my friends on here a Very Happy New Year.... so Happy New Year to one and all, I hope it proves to be a good season for your team.
I am in agreement with many posters in here in that If Salford start the season well and get a winning run going then crowds will increase. I doubt you will ever get consistently high crowds due to the fact that sat on the doorstep are two of the biggest Football clubs in the UK/Europe even if the seasons only overlap shortly.
I also feel that Barton Stadium still does Salford no favours, having been to a number of meeting there recently during the day it proves a nightmare to exit at the moment.
2500 season ticket sales isn't bad considering the season you had yesterday and quite frankly right now I'd swap 50% of them for my club Swinton.

Good luck in 2014.

He could always finance an entry slip road clockwise on the M60.

Already in the pipeline I am led to believe, but not financed by Dr. K.

Yep, we'd kill for a slice of that pi.

Now spawned a copy story on the Sky Sports Site rlMarwan Koukash disappointed by responserl no doubt BBC will follow , followed by RL trade press / Red Tops on Monday.
= overall impression ~ failure
perversely more potential ' new ' fans will read this negative storyline than the Red-Devilution - join us tag line that mean't to enthuse them ... Ooops

What annoyed me was being told off so early in the morning ... I'm not married to him!