Uncertainty remains over the Red Devils stadium future

[del capo]

On 13/06/2021 at 10:38, Leyther_Matt said:

Moor Lane isn’t all seated, but there again neither is the AJ Bell. They can’t even get out of League Two at the minute (praise be) so any idea of the Premier League or even Championship is rather fanciful. 

 Soccer will be allowing standing by this time next year

[sweaty craiq]

How much is the sale for?

[Scubby]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

I was hoping Salford could do better than simply swapping one rented stadium for another.

No club with a 5k capacity stadium should be operating in SL.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

Can Moore Lane get a upgrade in capacity if need be?

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Can Moore Lane get a upgrade in capacity if need be?

Moor Lane is small time and it makes Salford small time. Willows 10K+ AJ Bell 12k and now Salford City 5k. This should be blocked by SL immediately. If Salford want to play in a 5k stadium it should be in the Championship.

[Snowys Backside]

Where are all the Belle view and Wheldon Rd nockers? 

I have to agree, no SL team should be playing or should be allowed to play in SL in such a poor facility. 

Saying that, they allowed London to play in that cesspit, so why not? All the away fans who can't get in will have to go fishing or something. 

[The British Lion]

2 hours ago, Scubby said:

No club with a 5k capacity stadium should be operating in SL.

couldn't agree more. There needs to be vision from clubs to attract more fans. retracting to a smaller stadium suggests they need to take a step down to the championship or otherwise.

I really feel for Salford. I like them. But fans are not showing up. I don't buy he whole 'AJ bell' is not in the right location. Fans travel wherever when they want to see their team play. Thats not the root problem. To be fair to Salford, especially under Ian Watson, they had been punching way above. I don't know what the disconnect is with attracting fans.

[The British Lion]

17 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Where are all the Belle view and Wheldon Rd nockers? 

I have to agree, no SL team should be playing or should be allowed to play in SL in such a poor facility. 

Saying that, they allowed London to play in that cesspit, so why not? All the away fans who can't get in will have to go fishing or something. 

Allowing London in at Ealing Trailfinders was a big no for me. They were never going to build from that place. As for Wakefield, they need to present a serious plan as to their credibility to SL for me, and this stadium thats been muted for so so long.

Castleford, on the other hand, attract a fanbase worthy of SL, regardless of their stadium. And contribute to great performance in SL. They are deserved SL status for me and a great rugby team. However, they do need a plan to modernise their stadium - an actual one that will happen!

[Henson Park Old Firm]

Maybe (money is a factor) they should do a promotional deal, become a 2 year season ticket holder and get a free jersey? Or, maybe talk with Man United and letting them buy into Salford Reds and they can be Man U official rugby league club or sell 50% the club to UAE or Russian businessman .. 3 stupid ideas but that's all I got.

[sweaty craiq]

Being brutal its highly likely Salford are still in SL because they haven't paid other bills, but spent on players. Eg the default on the cva and I understand they still don't pay the full rent to the council (please correct if this is no longer the case)

Anyone know what the selling price is for the stadium?

[idrewthehaggis]

Apparently £15m Craiq.

In joining this forum, my aim remains not to engage in Parksideresque rotating arguments that boil down to endless point scoring. 

The deal that SRD's famous Mr Salford owners dealt the Reds was appalling. Hubris, boosterism, followed by bankruptcy, a sharp sale of the the ground and then re-deployment to a very good stadium, but without any substantial revenue streams and a super optimistic, if not wildly stupid belief that crowds could double. I think it was mostly the famous Mr Salford's debts that he left the club that was dissolved last year. How much of the sale of the former ground went back to SRD is erm a curiosity for some.

Sadly that deal is not negotiable.  The future for SRD is either remain at a stadium which earns you little income and pay an increased and punishing cost or move out. As it stands, that entails either migrating to the Etihad Campus or to the Belle Vue speedway stadium. Or Moor Lane.

They are all ######. But at least Moor Lane is (just) in Salford and would allow SRD revenue streams previously denied. As i have previously said, there are numerous issues with Moor Lane, but all of them are resolvable, if the Council, the club and the local community work together.

Indeed a tidy, community orientated ground with numerous social facilities could be created here that would enhance not just RL, but this side of Salford/Manchester/Prestwich. 

I won't deny what you lads say, but let me propose this.

Imagine if SRD were akin to York. Some of you would be saying look at these clubs. The latter in its new stadium and former in the biggest conurbation outside London, has been to two cup finals in the last few years , has a history of developing talent like Evalds, Fages, Hastings and has regular crowds of 4,000. Wants to run an Academy and has links with Ipswich Jets. All it needs is a proper grandstand and its York with bells. 

The potential is there. I don't think we can doubt that. If York is OK, so is Salford kids.

 

 

[The Frying Scotsman]

2 hours ago, Scubby said:

Moor Lane is small time and it makes Salford small time. 

 100%

[Tommygilf]

The masterstroke of not paying the bill to the council last year is looking better and better every day!

[Whippet13]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

The masterstroke of not paying the bill to the council last year is looking better and better every day!

Been wondering about that myself, surely it cannot have done them any favours with the council in the rent negotiations. There were people on here at the time praising them for having good business sense, I had reservations about it then and still do.

[Damien]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

The masterstroke of not paying the bill to the council last year is looking better and better every day!

Oh I clearly remember the way people pretended that was a great piece of business and that Salford not paying their debts was totally different to Totonro.

[Tommygilf]

16 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

Been wondering about that myself, surely it cannot have done them any favours with the council in the rent negotiations. There were people on here at the time praising them for having good business sense, I had reservations about it then and still do.

Quite, it can't have endeared them. Someone at the council, with already massively pressured budgets, was responsible for that six figure sum of money coming in; likely the same person/group of people who are responsible for deciding on the ground being sold.

I expect that same department would be owning Moor Lane if Salford move there, and how willing will they be to collaborate?

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

Oh I clearly remember the way people pretended that was a great piece of business and that Salford not paying their debts was totally different to Totonro.

Exactly, the masterstroke strikes again and the reputation of RL in an area that we really need it to matter (local government) declines again.

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

I totally get Manchester is a large spread out city, but what's the travelling distance between FC United's stadium and Swinton or the Ethiad campus?

Likewise with Moor Lane in relation to Salford's traditional fan base?

Rugby league in Manchester is in a seriously bad place, Oldham, Swinton homeless, closely followed by the Salford debacle !

Maybe now is the time for a reality check and for these clubs to swallow a bit of pride and accept they will never own their own grounds and certainly in Swinton and Salford's case look to merge for the last throw of the dice and try to team up with Manchester City and piggy back their branding.

Before everyone shouts me down, I totally understand Salford is a city in its own right, but people outside of Manchester see Salford as a suburb of Manchester so maybe they just have to accept it.

Swinton have a hard core of 500 fans, Salford 1500 - would they do any worse as a combined Manchester team?

[Leyther_Matt]

21 hours ago, del capo said:

 Soccer will be allowing standing by this time next year

Not on the type of terracing that is the AJ Bell. It would need to be converted to safe standing which would a) cost a bit and b) would be likely to be the opposite of how Sale would want it. Not even moved in yet and they’ll already be falling out  

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 08/09/2021 at 21:28, Josef K said:

Sale rugby u**** can be trusted as much as Harold Shipman visiting your gran to see if she is ok. 

Harsh on Shipman. He behaved well at that NRL game he attended over Covid

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

I think nearly filling Peninsula will at least create an atmosphere if fans can be vocal enough. The AJ bell looks terrible for most SRD games when third full

I imagine Salford home crowd would look about same as this? Looks okay and certainly better

 

 

 

 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

On 15/09/2021 at 19:54, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Can Moore Lane get a upgrade in capacity if need be?

Who’s going to pay for that? Salford Reds are leaving the AJ Bell Stadium because they can’t afford to pay the rent on it, Salford Council have already lost a load of money on the AJ Bell Stadium, neither party are in a position to spend money on upgrading another stadium. 

[Henson Park Old Firm]

58 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Who’s going to pay for that? Salford Reds are leaving the AJ Bell Stadium because they can’t afford to pay the rent on it, Salford Council have already lost a load of money on the AJ Bell Stadium, neither party are in a position to spend money on upgrading another stadium. 

So where did the money go when the Willows got the can?

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

8 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

So where did the money go when the Willows got the can?

How much did they sell the Willows for?

The AJ Bell Stadium cost £26 million to build and has on going running costs the same as any other stadium. Salford get very small crowds so I expect they often run at a loss.

[idrewthehaggis]

Couple of points-

The sale of the Willows. Erm I have an opinion on this, that if I was say Martyn Sadler I would be speaking to my journal's legal representative before printing it, having already sought advice from property and financial experts. Which is probably why the mainstream RL media did not dwell on it. plus I would wonder how newsworthy it was back then for publications devoted to sport than business.

If you are really curious, then the rebel rousing Salford Star's archives examined the complexity of that period. It is erm complex. 

Moving on I will say that the cost of building the Meccano stands at Moor Lane for the Nevilles et al was around £5m. The total cost for the AJ Bell was said to be £24m, albeit £8m was spent on clearing the land which would have happened anyway. I think in comparison that is pretty much the going rate. You get what you pay for. Basic or executive.

To me and you, millions seems extraordinary. However bare in mind, Salford Council will be investing £17m in new sports facilities (Gym, 4g pitch, swimming pools plus) at Pendleton.

Things, all things cost money.Basic or executive.

(Which prompts me to question why aren't SCFC and SRD plus the Council not looking at that huge open space off Churchill Way, Pendleton to build a new ground, given its next to a new sports facility, a bus and shopping hub, the university, Salford Crescent train station and a proposed new tram line, but hey.)

Last the pitch is exactly the same size as the one at Manchester United.