Before people have a go I think yesterday was terrible but we as a club seem so divided,I come on here and were arguing and name calling amongst ourselves!I feel we have a voice and we need to use it constructively,I've been watching for 30years now and feel I could make a difference feel I could galvanise this club and feel if others do we have a voice let's work together,we need to get pride back in this club and get positivity and feel as a group we can but at the moment were just helping to kick it while it's down.I'm proud to be a Salford fan and days like yesterday hurt even just a friendly but I feel it's not to late and were not doomed yet.shoot me down now!haha.

Dante

OK lets presume you are John Wilkinson. What would you do at this minute knowing :-

a) The club is under funded and no further Capital will be introduced by Directors
b) No Outside Party is interested in picking up JAW's stake in the club - not even willing to take the debts on and sell the shares for £1.
c) The CE (Tarry) performs the day to day running of the club and if sacked would have to be replaced by another on an increased package which is unaffordable.
d) The Football Director (Simms) performs the tasks of running the Rugby side of things and this task would not
be undertaken for free by the Board of Directors.


So what plans would you have to make Johns life a little easier and financially more pleasant.

Travelled up from SW Wales to watch this game. Spent a lot of money to watch some very good rugby from Leigh. They had 2 halfbacks who controlled the game and a couple of huge forwards who battered us endlessly.

Our set plays were slow, ponderous and really easy to read. We defended with both wingers in the centres area of responsibility hence the gaps outside them. Very few of our lads seemed up for it and that was the biggest disappointment.

My fear here is how we can meet the bills if we need to attract a gate of 8000 to break even (as said by Martin Sadler in his column). We won't attract anywhere near that if we play that poorly. You pay to be entertained and you can enjoy a game as much in defeat as in victory if the team play well.

We have to get the defensive alignment right, a winger should never offer six or seven yards outside him and it wasn't a one off, it was clearly a set defensive pattern and it should be dropped because it will never work if you allow the opposition to run at you rather than moving up fast to cut out the pass.

Was really looking forward to the game, actually did enjoy it, but only because Leigh played so well. They battered us and were right in their singing.

I think Sean Long needs to have a long hard look at our halfs, with that quality of ex-halfback in our coaches why did they look so poor?

Finally, classic from the bloke in front of me in the West stand when he headed the penalty kick for touch back onto the pitch. Must have a head like a rock!

I used to be




The fans at Salford are part of the problem, not part of the solution

Leigh show us up in that respect too

Fantastic post and 100% correct.



Sadly this is also correct.

Put a strong team out;

Patten
Broughton
Nero
Gleeson
Williams
Holdsworth
Smith
Jewitt
Godwin
Boyle
Ashurst
McPherson
Anderson

I hold no stock in what I saw yesterday as it was after all a friendly, as others have said if after a few games of SL and I still see the same I'll really worry.
I would though expect Vauxhall to use the Halifax game more like a serious game and bring in the first players who missed out yesterday and give them the same game time as he envisages them getting during the early part of the season.
I did expect McPherson to be much bigger physically as I thought maybe he would move up to the front row but Anderson looked bigger than him.
Something that did annoy me was the same old morons getting after the same players, Paten didn't look at his best and to be fair you'd not expect either him or DJ to do so as they have been back over in OZ for a wedding havn't they?.

After reading the posts on here... I hardly know where to start...

Firstly... yesterday... yes it was a 'friendly'... but I'm guessing those saying it was 'ONLY' a friendly... and not to get carried away have never played the game. I don't ever recall seeing or meeting a player who plays in a game of rugby league and see's it as 'friendly'. You want to make that tackle, you want to make that pass, you want to score those tries. The coaching staff may see it as a way of blowing away the cobwebs, and trying a few things, but if you are a player on a rugby league field... you should be playing the game. So yesterday was proof to me that this is a poor team. This was an early hit out for Leigh too... and that looked like a team to me.

Our new head coach has said that we should expect a more expansive game this year... if ever there was a sign saying that even he knows that we haven't got the forwards to win us games... then this was it. We have a decent back-line... but nothing to lay that platform for me... and the coach knows this too... so he tells us we are going to be better with the ball in hand... I'm not buying it.

These players are at Salford for a reason... they aren't good enough to be anywhere else... and they know it. If they were good enough for Saints, Wigan, Warrington, Leeds... then that's where they would be. If you are playing at Salford... it's a good indication of your ability... and those players know that... so they aren't likely to be brimming with confidence. These players can also see for themselves the joke that the club has become in recent years... and I can hardly see them breaking their backs for the cause. They know they are making up the numbers in SL... perhaps if they spent less time in Starbucks, Costa and Nando's... and more time working on their own games.. then there could be a possibility of achieving more.

The stadium... for me... the one thing I always enjoyed about being a Salford fan was the feeling of The Willows... It felt homely... and it felt like everybody was an extended part of your family. This new place is too regimented. I know we had to be there... but it just doesn't feel quite to me. The views from the South Stand just didn't do it for me... and I don't particularly want to sit down until I'm a good few years down the line from where I am now and my legs won't take it. Under the stand needs a lick of paint too... those grey breeze-blocks just look cold. Surely they can afford a bit of white paint for the walls. Make us feel like we want to go there.

The people that run the club will surely now be happy that they don't have to mix with the regulars anymore now they have their big shiny new stand to wine and dine in. They will care less and less about us mere mortals. In the new stand before we arrive... kiss the backsides of the corporates... and then leave when we've all left feeling gutted about another dire performance. Our CEO gets a lot of stick on here... people have called for somebody better.... but it will never happen... He's been at the club for years... and would cost a fortune to get rid of... and the club can't afford to do that. It'll be the same for many others that work there.

It's amazing how much bad feeling can be generated from a pre-season game... but it's just a continuation of what we left The Willows with... as I said months ago when people were talking about the club changing... it will always be the same Salford. Badly run... Poor team... no heart. On leaving The Willows there were some things that they had to bring with them... one being that tape to tell us all not to swear (which is rich considering swearing is always an option watching this team)... and the other thing was the team spirit....

JW.... 'When you're clearing out the dressing room... don't forget that team spirit'
Kitman.... 'What does it look like chairman ?'
JW....'It's in a red bucket.... looks a bit like a bucket of 5h!t'

I'm very downhearted about things again... It's great that the stadium is nearer to where I live... but it's still going to be a chore to go there week in week out. There has been a lot of talk about Sale moving in... believe me... this is the least of our worries.

Thanks for your opinion but I'll aim my frustration at those Salfordian buisness people who choose not to support their local sports team!

OK I'll identify a negative ........ Booing and slagging the club off where ever possible!
So in short YOU and your like.

I'm not deluded, just tired of certain people having a negative effect on the club and my match day experience.
Like I said before if you dont like it dont go, and in the process remove one of the negatives you love to harp on about.

Cheer up it was only a friendly.it could be much worse,it could have been Swinton you played.Expect a closer score when you play us.Karl Harrison will be well up for it to put one over on the people who back stabbed him towards the end of his stay at Salford.

If you was a business man, would you put you money in,and let this lot run the show.And while we are on the topic
that's why business people have not come.They can see what is going on,could the chairman stand going from the
all power full to just one vote, that's the question.