After it was announced we'd signed Taylor I was speaking to my supervisor (salford fan) on my next shift at work and I told him that I thought we had a chance of challenging for the top 4. He's a pretty level headed guy and he went on to tell me that he thought that, as a club, we were probably 10-15 years behind the other 'big' clubs such as Wigan, Saints, Leeds. got to admit Ive never previously looked at it this way before and ive just judged us mainly on where we stand in the league. However, I started to think that he does have a good point. He cited our academy, our lack of a large fanbase, lack of promoting the club and short-term planning with some signings. I dont agree with how many years he said but does he have a point? Are we really 10 years behind the other 'big' clubs??

Are you a Salford fan Mario, a question you've been asked a couple of times but studiously avoided.

Silence speaks volumes.

Somebody get rid of this idiot please.

The key to SL success is not only having a strong 17 but plenty of depth and i believe Salford have that next season.
I think top 4 is definitely achievable.

Mario has to be a bot. At least I hope so. If he isn't it's a sad indictment of the kind of fan we seem to attract.

I think we need to acknowledge that we probably are a generation behind Leeds, Wigan etc when it comes to grassroots and building a sustainable fan base.

The Tarry/Wilky regime totally neglected the grassroots for years and it'll take sustained and significant investment to address that. For all the good the new regime has done, there's no evidence thus far to indicate they have the patience to implement this kind of long term strategy.

To get there, Leeds, Wigan and St Helens needed to rely on good quality imports too. And many of them. Success can breed success if the winning culture filters down. It is probably a lot harder to build a successful team from the roots upwards – you might not attract the best kids and those decent players you built may leave while still young for success elsewhere.

As a team i would say we are between 8 an 4 in the table as a club we have lots to do! but it looks like the steps are being made! cant wait for next year!!!

Let's get real clubs like Wigan, St Helens and Leeds have enjoyed far more support than Salford since the 1940's. They are big rugby towns and we are a football city. Grass roots isn't the magical solution, these clubs will always have the pick of the best kids because most of these kids want to play for their local clubs.

The only way for us to close the gap is to throw a fortune at it and that's what the owner is obviously in a position to do. Can I see crowds improving with a much stronger winning team? Yes but I can't see an extra 5000 every home game.

I can see with a team that's winning most of it's home games getting about 5,000 average in the next couple of seasons. If we can then go on a good cup run and start beating the top three or four at home I can see us approaching the 6-7,000 mark. I think once we're winning regularly if the Doc (or anyone else for that matter) can attract some high profile footballers to come down to a few games then maybe we can start getting some of the City & United fans down.
Fundamentally it depends on on field results and entertainment.

It took wire 3-5 years to become a big team and they are a rugby town. It will take us 5-8 years, but we have momentumicon_smile.gif