I see Sale got battered yesterday,wonder what Shark J will make of that.

Had to post something on this thread it's been very quiet lately.

I was there mate. Battered is putting it lightly.

I had a rant on the Sale forum on Saturday night that the guy who runs it liked so much that he put it up as the main story on the front page. People also suggested putting it up in the dressing room at Carrington this week. Was quite a surprise actually, expected to log in Sunday morning and people to tell me to get a grip, that it's only one game into the season.

Travelled there and back same day. 21 hours in total. Totally embarrassed and the scoreline flattered us. Could have been 70 with ease.

Fair enough mate nowt worse than seeing your team get battered as you put it.

21 hours bloody hell I am going Wigan on friday that's a hell of a trip to.

Famine?

another defeat today? but apparently you played much better. only about 7,500 on thoughh which must be a bit disappointing

We played better, not sure we played much better.

It was a horrible game for the most part. Union played in the way it was about 4 years ago when teams just played kicking Tennis, booting the ball up and down the field in hope of one of the backs making an error or making a slight bit of territory. You can't play against a team like Saracens like that. A lot of people don't like their style of Rugby as they aren't flash and don't run in the tries like Leicester or Harlequins, but they're very solid and we seemed to be trying to play them at their own game. We lost, evidently. Our try was superb and the refereeing was shocking, but it was just aimless kick after aimless kick which lead to nothing. Cipriani doesn't seem to have done anything of note yet, which people on our forum seem to disagree with. I'm still waiting to be won over by him though.

The attendance was disappointing, the amount there was even more disappointing. There was never 7400 there. I've already said this on the Salford forum but basically, to put it short - we had roughly 7000 seats at Edgeley Park that were in the Bronze and Silver categories. At Salford there's just one stand for those 2 brackets and it holds about 2000. The rest of the seating is Gold and is £47 a game. The West Stand (the big, smart one) has been absolutely empty for both games so far. Our hardcore fans seem to have gone for standing or managed to get a seat in the East Stand which isn't as expensive.

Until they sort the prices out then I think we'll see some more figures like that. We apparently need 7,500 a game to break even, can't see that.

My usual grip about Edgeley was that Sale wanted £37 for a seat that priced for £16 or so for a County match- sounds like the powers that be have not learned their lesson then.

Out of interest, what are they charging for season tickets now?

Not sure what is happening with the Aviva attendances – the first home game of the season is pretty well attended but every team who has played at home so far has attracted less than their average last year and three teams (London Irish, Northampton and Worcester) saw their first home attendance lower than any of their home games last year

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19571712 Some people never learn. "ON Digital? Excessive price paid for sport? Never heard of it, guv".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19571712 Some people never learn. "ON Digital? Excessive price paid for sport? Never heard of it, guv".

Bit odd that. I'd have thought they'd kick on much as we have this season in overall attendances.

I'm suspecting London Welsh don't bring many with them, but then I doubt Newcastle did.

Union is generally pretty good in that it has a wide range of ticket prices, both on the day and season tickets. It's very clever really. It caters for the casual fan who wants to go to one game but also has the pricey range for the corporates and such.

3 of the stands at Edgeley Park were pricey but then you could sit in The Railway End for £10 - the cheapest Premiership ticket. We still have the cheapest Premiership match and season tickets now. £15 in either terrace and my season ticket was £99 as I renewed early, it would have been £99 otherwise. They go right up to £550 if you want one in the West Stand.

Surprised at how cheap it is for a terrace seat now, given that we were quoted £17 a throw for the Railway End the other year. Although £550 is pretty steep for rugby of either code- next year's most expensive Wire season tickets are in the North Stand and cost £323, but then the cheapest adult one is £196 for a renewal in the South Stand.

I meant £199 if I had bought it later on.

Yeah, it was £17 I think a few years ago. It was £10 for the last 3 or so years. I spent all but 3 games in my time there in that stand. It was cold but then I couldn't justify that much more to have a roof.

£550 is a lot but it's £47 in the centre seats. If you x that by 17 games then £550 is still a big discount.

Our first 2 games have seen the posh stand very empty.

It seems that in Union these days you get very good value by getting a season ticket and that's about it. I have mates who support Bury and Altrincham FC. It's getting on for £300 for Bury and to sit at Moss Lane it's £265 a year I think. For 6th tier Football. If you compare those to the match day prices you don't save a lot at all. I'm not sure what the benefits of season tickets really are these days. My Auntie has one at Old Trafford and I don't think she even saves anything compared to match day prices. It's just that it guarantees her a seat while others are on the waiting list.

The most expensive club are Exeter, believe it or not. I went the other week and it's a decent ground but given they're in their 3rd season in the Premiership - £24 is the cheapest terrace ticket, £27 is the cheapest terrace ticket with a side on view, £34 is the cheapest seat and it's £41 in the grandstand.

They claim it's so they can manage financially compared to the big clubs but a lot of their fans apparently feel alienated. Rightly so in my view. They have recently announced plans for an expansion which will probably see cheaper tickets.

In fairness to Alty, their standing tickets are much cheaper. And most people do go to Alty to stand. They were £99 the season before last.

Mine at Eastleigh is also £99- £4.30 a game if I go to every home game!

5,000 fans for the ''local'' derby between Wasps and London Irish today, the Aviva's weekly crowds are woeful so far. (though I remember it being pretty bad at this stage last year too)
Decent turn out for Saracens at Wembley though. But doesn't mean anything if they can't start drawing a regular crowd to their 'usual' home stadium week in, week out. The fact that their new stadium is going to have a capacity of just 10,000 sums it up really. Biggest bandwagon fan base going.
Sale lost again, is the early season optimism evaporating yet? Thought they would be doing much better than this tbh!
EDIT - how Saracens can get 40,000 people to pay to watch them is beyond me - turgid is not even the word! 9-9 final score