Million dollar question

Quote: LoyalFan "Shine a light !!! I hardly know where to begin with this one...

So I see people have questioned my use of 'Loyalfan' as my name... well loyalty can be measured in many ways, and I've certainly earned my stripes as loyal following this club. Whether that be home and away for many years, travelling to Australia to watch 2 games, or spending almost every day for the best part of 2 years helping run Forever Reds raise the best part of £50,000 to keep the club full time following relegation... all count towards being loyal to this club. I look back on my time when Forever Reds started up... and even now... and believe me... there wasn't a whole lot of loyalty back then from probably 95% of 'fans' watching the club... more than most were willing to sit back when the club needed them. I was given countless amounts of abuse at that time for the whole Forever Reds thing... to my face... behind my back... but I stuck at it and worked towards the cause... Now Forever Reds is still going for the good of the club, and how many people on here are backing it ? Not as many as perhaps there should be if you wanted to do some good. So don't anybody question my loyalty to this club... it is because of how I feel about this club that has made me feel so upset and negative about it's prospects... and I will sit down with anybody over a drink to discuss mine and anybody else's feelings... because I often think than on here it is quite difficult to show the true emotions and feelings that we have.

Now... as I read some posts on this forum over the past few months... I see myself from many years ago. I used to defend the club to the very core. No bad word could be said about them... I always looked beyond the truth... I never saw it... I couldn't see it no matter how hard I looked. It was my club... my Salford... and nobody dare slag it off. I'd feel sick before games... We would win and I'd sing myself ho.... We'd lose... and it would destroy me for days. I would queue up at the shop on Salford precinct waiting for the new shirt to come out... to be the first to get it. The players to me were heroes. I would try my hardest at every home game to get the tie ups from my favourite players... I remember how I felt when I finally got the tie ups of Darren Bloor... Months I tried to get them... I pinned them up on my wall when I got home and they stunk my bedroom out of wintergreen. My entire life was Salford RLFC. It was a great feeling back then... seeing players who you looked up to as heroes and legends... fact is...they weren't... they were builders and postmen etc... who happened to be playing top flight rugby league too... but they looked like they wanted to play in the Salford shirt, and that was good enough for me.

So... years go by... dreams are lost... Losing the Lancashire Cup final against Widnes at Central Park, and to Wigan at Knowsley Road... both times we were the better team, but fell short. Challenge Cup Semi Finals... Burnden Park... Headingley... So near yet so far... losing again... Emotions like I have never experienced watching sports... all which ended in sadness... but you know what... nothing could kill my enthusiasm. I loved the club with every breath I had in me... We always knew we were never going to be world beaters, but it felt like our Salford... and those players played their bloody hearts out for the cause. Then we started signing players like Garry Jack... at the time the best player in the world... It's impossible to explain how that felt as I ran onto the local field to tell my mates that we had just signed Jack.... 'Jack who ?' they said.... 'Garry Jack'... 'No chance' they said... 'It's true, I just read it on Teletext'... my mates piled back to my house to read it... It was true... Nothing could have wiped the smile from my face. My little Salford have just signed the worlds best player.... Imagine Wigan Athletic signing Messi... and you may get some kind of clue as to how big a deal that was. I get goose bumps now thinking about how that felt.

So the years roll on and the SL era arrives. Mergers are spoken of... It was said that Salford would merge with Oldham to form a new Manchester club... I was actually physically sick... it broke my heart... over my dead body was my club going to disappear. This was my Salford. The club I lived for. The club who made me feel scared of dying... just because I hadn't seen them at Wembley. But the mergers never happened, and Salford continued. But as those SL years roll on, things seem to get worse. The appointment of the likes of John Harvey was just the start of where things were heading... but even then... 96-16 hurt like hell, but I would somehow still defend this club despite a still standing SL record defeat.

So with the exception of the excellent Karl Harrison years, we have appointed poorly, and always on the cheap... with the Matt Parrish appointment being the nail in the coffin of poor coaching decisions. He was never first choice... he wasn't even 2nd or 3rd choice.. but the club had made a right royal mess of the whole process, and it was always going to be poor to recover from... Of all the seasons to get it sooooo wrong it had to be one of the most important in the clubs history... Our last at The Willows. This was supposed to be our swan song at the old girl... a season we could leave with great and emotional memories... but it couldn't have ended worse. There can't be anybody who left that place feeling like we had done it justice... and why ?... because those who run the club got it oh so wrong... and as they demolish the place, I'll never forgive them for that... yes I have some wonderful memories... but my last one is one of heartbreak because all those people who graced that famous ground were not given the send off they deserved... the whole event on that last day was half-ar$ed... and nobody can tell me any different.

So now we move to the new stadium... Not the one we were promised would make us the richest club in the world... not the one owned outright by the club... with the luxury hotel and the casino... but one that we have had to settle for... not owned in any way by Salford City Reds... Due to a long list of bad decisions over the last 10 years... we now have a stadium that in all honesty... nobody is completely happy with. From day one in this place, there have been constant issues... tickets, merchandise, parking, buggies, club shop... the list goes on... we are drip fed information whenever the club feel like giving it to us... we never really know the true state of the club. We don't have any assets... again due to a list of poor decisions... and allegedly owe money left right and centre. Then we look at the playing staff... Twitter and other social media has done us no favours. We are always hearing that somebody isn't happy... we never know who to believe... although I think it's pretty safe to say that they better players we have want to leave... and will leave... just like the other top players we have had over the last few years.... they can't wait to get away from the feeder club that is Salford.... Twelve years on from that record defeat at Bradford... we continue to break records that make us look bad... London away... not the best 40 minutes this club has ever had.

So... it's almost impossible right now to find any more positives apart from the fact that we are still in business. I see people writing about the tough climate we are in and how we are apparently 'punching above our weight'... balls we are... people thinking that we have decent players playing for this club right now... well let me tell you... there isn't one that can live up to the likes of Tex Evans, Terry O'Shea, Fata Sini, Ian Blease, Geoff Selby, Steve Gibson, Paul Shaw, Neil Baker, Peter Williams... I could go on...

... so I look down the list of people posting on here, and see people I've known watching this club... being questioned by those who have only cared for 5 minutes in comparison... I actually feel sorry for these people who haven't experienced what it's like to follow this club when it felt good... even in defeat... But I won't question your loyalty... because I know exactly how it felt to love everything about this club... and there is nothing more I would like than for you to experience that like I did.

But.... don't come on here and question how I feel about this club. I have earned my right to say it as I see it... Say it how it is... and so has every other loyal, long term supporter of this 'once great' club. I fear for where we are heading which is exactly why it breaks my bloody heart.'"

I agree with you in most aspects Danny but your not telling me that Moon isn't something very special and that Big Ray and Red weren't two of the best props you've seen in your time watching Salford (your give or take the same age as me). The club is punching above it's weight in one respect if not others in that it is still punching, by all rights with everything that the club has endured in it's recent history we are extremely fortunate to be in a position where we are in SL, where we have a player of the ability of Moon playing and where we have a stadium at our disposal that is everything that the Willows wasn't and I'm pretty sure will feel like home in years to come.

Sure like everyone I'd like a Salford through and through sugar Daddy to come along and I think like many others if I won the Euro Millions I'd be that person but let's face facts were not likely to suddenly find Bill Gates has become a Salford fan and is funneling his wealth into SCR. So we should be at least greatful for small mercies.