Leyther_Matt

The sanctions for failing to fulfil a fixture would dwarf the saving made from preventing hosting a loss-making fixture. Not only would they get fined, but they’d also face a possible points deductions and/or transfer embargo which would make it even less attractive to potential buyers.

That was the case had it taken place this year as well, wasn't it? The early announcement has given me the nod to take a chance and book my Bash hotel for the week before...

Ignore the estate at Princes Ave and they fancy themselves as a bit of an extension to Worsley I think.

No, but in a similar vein Cory Paterson (ex Salford, Leigh, Toronto) has a coffee shop in Astley near Leigh.

But, other than the area of Eccles close to the motorway near the RL club, none of those areas are near enough to attract walk up fans in the same way as was the case at the Willows and indeed virtually every other pro RL club. I’m happy to be wrong on this one but I’d say a lot of the areas you mention aren’t necessarily areas where Salford have traditionally drawn much support. That’s not to say they never will, but it’s undeniable that the stadium move was well away from the previous territory and in a lot of ways was like starting in an entirely new location.

There are literally no houses to the west or south of the stadium, only a small number to the north and the ones to the east are a fair walk away. Not exactly Weaste, is it?

The Trafford Centre thing has been mentioned from day one but I’ve never really understood the relevance of it given nobody lives there and it’s a pain to find a parking spot most of the time?

Not a lot at all on the Barton Airport side of the ground. Must be a good mile or two further towards Warrington (Irlam and Cadishead) before you reach any sizeable housing developments. Given the delays in the stadium being built, I suppose Salford were always on the back foot in trying to build any sort of momentum in marketing to those areas. Even on the motorway side of the ground, it’s not exactly on the doorstep of Eccles. Nothing north of it, nothing south of it. Out of sight, out of mind.

For my own reasons, I won’t even begin to touch that one. I think it suffers massively from not being particularly near to any housing development which affects their ‘walk up’ support, something they were hugely reliable on at the Willows, 3.5 miles of traffic away.

Said expression of desire is all the commitment that their fans need. You can be sure that they will be pressuring Sale every step of the way to return nearer to ‘home’. As it is, even if Sale did decide to buy the AJ Bell then it wouldn’t be much of a change for Salford. They would still be tenant to a landlord that needs the rent money.

Sale are committed to building a new stadium nearer to their heartland support. Shame Salford aren’t in a similar position to do likewise, but hey ho.

M & M Direct has still got GB gear. And there’s some England stuff available on Lovell Rugby.

You are correct in that they are one game a season types - they’re also ‘leave their own backwater bubble’ once a year a types and nothing to do with football fans. I find that being a regular home and away supporter for both football and RL leaves me much better conditioned for boozing and far less likely to be involved in any bother.

With Burnden being on the southern side of town, Bolton always got (and still do) a decent support from Little Hulton, Walkden and Swinton, while the Swinton club lottery is still linked with BWFC's. Interesting sidenote is that the attendance for the Swinton-Wigan game was only 600 short of BWFC's highest attendance of that season, albeit playing in Division Four. I'd say that thankfully that was before my time, and yet here I am waiting to hand over my money for a League Two season ticket...

Looks like there were only two of Swinton's games at Bolton with the rest at Station Road as you'd expect. Not sure on the circumstances of those two being played at Burnden. I originally suspected it was to make use of the undersoil heating as had been the case in other seasons, but the first game was late August (Saints, 3,142) and the other was late March (Wigan, 8,615).