They need to sort some key things out at Salford very quickly or that ground is going to become a noose round their neck. The whole experience for one was poor IMO and if I was new to RL last night I wouldnt be looking at going back for some more.
That car park for one which is a farce....stuck on there for 30-40 mins last night with nothing moving is just not acceptable especially when its a rent a crowd event anyway....what would it be like if they actually got a crowd on?!!
While it may not be too much of a problem when they only have 3-4k on and theres no away support, its going to fast put away fans off and the likes of wigan, saints and wire will drop off numbers rapidly, which is a massive revenue stream for them! I for one am not inclined to go again! Car parks a joke so don't fancy driving, public transport links are an even bigger joke - 2-3 miles away to get to a station thats one of the worst linked stations in the world and takes over an hour and a half to get too from wigan anyway.
The only real way you can get to and from there is going on a coach, and theres not much point in going on the coach cos theres no decent pubs round the ground that you'd want to drink in - they all look about as good and as scary as The Jockey off Shameless!!
Add to that the ground is 3-4 miles away from Salford and the majority of their old support base, which will drop off rapidly after the honeymoon period is over this yr IMO and they get fed up with the ball ache of having to travel there. In addition, the grounds not had the wished effect of attracting new fans, and so they simply cant afford to lose any of the ones they have or their in big trouble! They also have the age old difficulty of attracting new fans as the ground is less than half full every week, so any new potential fans are not going to go and be blown away by the atmosphere or the rugby that is being played, will view it as a minority support like ice hockey or basketball in manchester, will be uninspired and so will be unlikey to return!
They quickly need more access roads to and from the car park and the car park splitting up, and as much as it costs need to put on a free shuttle bus / busses with regular 15 min departures from manchester, through salford, and then onto the ground to get people easliy to the stadium. Its all well and good saying theirs a shuttle to the trafford centre! There needs to be some shuttles to decent population areas and good transport links!!!
All this doesnt appear to have been thought out and is a key factor IMO given the ground is in the middle of nowhere. They could also do with a couple of decent pubs building near the staduim or alternatively need to build one themselves, as part of the ground as a bar, preferably with a large beer garden and play area to attract the families in the summer!
Otherwise I can see their core support dropping from 3-4k next year to averaging around 2-3k home fans next year and only every getting above 4k when big teams come to town. With the ridiculous rent their reported to be paying, I worry we could see them ending up having financial problems, not being able to keep up with the rent and/or going into administration, and ending up playing out of Leigh like Swinton have done as nomads and getting less than 1k watching them in the championship!
Sad state of affairs but can only see a slow death of our once great traditional manchester clubs!
Salford need some general marketing direction by some young blood who know what they're doing. All due respect to John Wilkinson who constantly props them up and has done much for them in the past but he obviously doesnt cut the mustard or have the marketing nouse or forsight to leed the club correctly in these areas and quickly needs direction IMO.
