Salford financial issues(again…)

[Click]

5 hours ago, Dullish Mood said:

If every armchair/casual Utd, Liverpool, City, Everton fan in Warrington watched Warrington Town for a while they’d be in the championship within 10 years!  The town is big and largely prosperous compared to surrounding areas, but it’s definitely full of football “fans” and always will be.

As is every town and city in the UK.

People are able to enjoy more than one sport.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

20 hours ago, Dullish Mood said:

Clearly some people do?  Myself included.

You do know how incredibly flawed it is, right? Because if you did, and continued to use it, then it suggests either incredible stubbornness to change or an ulterior motive behind using it. 

If you didn't, I'm pretty sure it's been demonstrated fairly quickly how flawed it is.

[getdownmonkeyman]

7 hours ago, Poptart said:

Brisbane Broncos average 36k per game in 2024

That is about 1.5% of the city's population.

I reckon they are OK with it.

It's the number that counts

The money in the coffers counts the same regardless.

[Damien]

2 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Like Leigh, Warrington will be reliant on away fans in one stand so what would you be looking at, 11500 ? Should be easy for Warrington in 2025?

We are not looking at Wilderspool in the 80’s anymore, it should really be gung ho razzmatazz of a family day out and 80 mins of Rugby in between. 
 

Having walked up to see a few Warrington Games last year with some neighbours, it is mostly ‘Kings Head’ followed by a walk up 10 mins before kick off. Sounds ok but no motivation to get me in early or have a couple of pints beforehand. 
 

I don’t get that at the LSV for a similar price and attending a good 60-90 mins before kick off. 
 

No looking at Town sizes and analysis from me, Warrington is a huge club with huge interest from lapsed fans who don’t attend anymore. On top of the regular 9k who do attend, why is that ?  That is the question that Karl Fitzpatrick should be answering. If he can’t be bothered, why should the lapsed fans ? 
 

Super League needs to thrive in the next 3 years. If not, it could well disappear !  

The thing is Warrington's attendances have already doubled. In the 80s and 90s they were getting largely sub 5k averages, some years sub 4k. I'm not particularly sure where all of this Warrington should be getting huge crowds and should be getting bigger crowds than Wigan is coming from. They have come a huge way already and grown their fanbase enormously.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Snowys Backside said:

Peter Deakin (RIP) would be the first person to state that some of the big boys are resting on their laurels, and would embrace the vision of your Leigh’s, Hull KRs Wakefields,etc…

The game needs to grow, and whether we like it or not, the big boys need to do more and take stats (such as attendances) to the next level. 
 

Although I get the sarcasm and irony in your response, Some teams attendances have doubled. Oldhams will next season. More can be done by the bigger teams as you can’t just rely on winning everything to grow, but Rugby League needs this as each new fan can be a fan for life. 

The likes of Wire embraced these things years ago, a lot starting when we actually hired Peter Deakin. I think it was justa vfe wyears before your club was taking revolutionary action like allocating squad numbera alphabetically. 

Joking aside, I don't disagree with your point that clubs should be doing more. I do disagree with your point that Wire should be filling the HJ every week, making them the biggest club in the comp. 

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

The thing is Warrington's attendances have already doubled. In the 80s and 90s they were getting largely sub 5k averages, some years sub 4k. I'm not particularly sure where all of this Warrington should be getting huge crowds and should be getting bigger crowds than Wigan is coming from. They have come a huge way already and grown their fanbase enormously.

Indeed, the context is just being ignored.

[DoubleD]

https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/salford-red-devils-promising-takeover-update-3487770
 

 

[Dullish Mood]

5 hours ago, Click said:

As is every town and city in the UK.

People are able to enjoy more than one sport.

Warrington, given its geography (slap bang in between Liverpool and Manchester) is clearly affected by the soccer behemoth more than most other places.

[bobbruce]

On 15/01/2025 at 08:49, rugbyleaguerunner said:

e just seen Salford tweet about first 3 games being on sale

 

They have 3 home games between Feb 22nd and April 10th, 2 of which are against Leeds apparently

 

How on earth are they supposed to generate a decent income with 3 home games in 2 months!

Between those dates they have 3 home fixtures and 3 away. 

[Father Gascoigne]

On 19/01/2025 at 08:03, Dave T said:

Nobody measures whether acrowd is good or bad based on % of town population.

18 hours ago, Poptart said:

Brisbane Broncos average 36k per game in 2024

That is about 1.5% of the city's population.

I reckon they are OK with it.

It's the number that counts

There was a study done a few decades ago looking at where most of the people that attended Premier League grounds lived. They found a very high correlation between attendance and people that lived within 10 miles of the stadium. If I remember correctly, the number of people that attended who lived outside this limit were almost negligible. 

If you gathered the statistics to show population levels within a 10-mile radius of the stadium, you could absolutely measure whether a crowd is good or bad in comparison with other cities. 

Brisbane's metropolitan population is over 2.5 million. But that figure would be much lower if you only used the population that lived within 10 miles of Suncorp. 

Add to that a huge number of Broncos games are on free-to-air in primetime (night) timeslots, which would no doubt have some effect on attendances. 

[Henson Park Old Firm]

Wonder if Salford do get bought out, they'll change the name to Manchester?

[Barley Mow]

On 16/01/2025 at 21:56, Simon Hall said:

I see Keighley are offering to pay Salford’s coach travel for their friendly next week and have a half time bucket collection for them. 

Which is nice. 

Salford have had to withdraw from this match now - due to a number of injuries and clustered first team fixtures.

[Charlie]

10 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

Salford have had to withdraw from this match now - due to a number of injuries and clustered first team fixtures.

The first team play saints that weekend 

[-Trinity-]

1 hour ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Wonder if Salford do get bought out, they'll change the name to Manchester?

If Salford Red Devils were rebranded as "Manchester," it might alienate fans. "Manchester" feels more aligned with football. The "red" branding could appeal to United fans but alienate City supporters, risking division rather than broadening appeal. It’s a bold move but would undermine Salford's proud rugby heritage.

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, Father Gascoigne said:

There was a study done a few decades ago looking at where most of the people that attended Premier League grounds lived. They found a very high correlation between attendance and people that lived within 10 miles of the stadium. If I remember correctly, the number of people that attended who lived outside this limit were almost negligible. 

If you gathered the statistics to show population levels within a 10-mile radius of the stadium, you could absolutely measure whether a crowd is good or bad in comparison with other cities. 

Brisbane's metropolitan population is over 2.5 million. But that figure would be much lower if you only used the population that lived within 10 miles of Suncorp. 

Add to that a huge number of Broncos games are on free-to-air in primetime (night) timeslots, which would no doubt have some effect on attendances. 

You can use all sorts of measures to make a point. You can absolutely use a % of local population to present an argument that Featherstone do better than Leeds in this space, but you don't pay bills that way.

[Worzel]

16 minutes ago, Dave T said:

You can use all sorts of measures to make a point. You can absolutely use a % of local population to present an argument that Featherstone do better than Leeds in this space, but you don't pay bills that way.

All that % of population gives you an insight into is local market penetration.

Ultimately having 10,000 regular fans makes you a stronger organisation than having 5,000 regular fans. That's the baseline measure of success, or perhaps more accurately sustainability or resilience. 

If anything the argument works the other way around, it's it a good thing if you have a solid base of sustainable scale but low market penetration: Because Warrington have a lower market penetration than say, Featherstone, they have much greater growth potential than them. That makes Warrington a far better investment.  

[Father Gascoigne]

23 minutes ago, Dave T said:

You can use all sorts of measures to make a point. You can absolutely use a % of local population to present an argument that Featherstone do better than Leeds in this space, but you don't pay bills that way.

That's fair. In fact it stands to reason that, as a percentage, smaller cities will almost always come out ahead. 

While larger cities have advantages, they have one major disadvantage. The more populated a city--necessitating a larger urban sprawl--the more difficult it is for a person to access a stadium. A fanatic might not think a 15-mile distance and hour's drive is a problem. Where you run into problems is applying that to the rest of the population, where such considerations make a huge difference in deciding to attend.    

[Wellsy4HullFC]

3 hours ago, Father Gascoigne said:

If you gathered the statistics to show population levels within a 10-mile radius of the stadium, you could absolutely measure whether a crowd is good or bad in comparison with other cities. 

You started off well, but then changed your methodology at the end. 

You're comparing a 10 mile radius of a particular point with a city population. To be consistent, you'd do both. 

The idea that Cas (for example) do well because they draw a large crowd in comparison to their town's population ignores the obvious fact that they don't just draw from that town.

The further from the point you go, the less likely you are to draw. Using arbitrary boundaries because it's in the club's name is not a good way to measure success. 

[phiggins]

So on Salford. Having put out a statement saying that they will have to sell players without delay, they are now delaying hoping money comes in this week?

[The Future is League]

12 hours ago, DoubleD said:

https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/salford-red-devils-promising-takeover-update-3487770
 

 

I do wonder if the POTENTIAL take over at the Red Devils will have a NRL connection like with the Brisbane Broncos taking over the London Broncos.

[whatmichaelsays]

45 minutes ago, Father Gascoigne said:

While larger cities have advantages, they have one major disadvantage. The more populated a city--necessitating a larger urban sprawl--the more difficult it is for a person to access a stadium. 

The make-up of the population is also very different. 

People up-root from other parts of the country (and indeed, other parts of the world) to move to cities for study and career. I'm currently sat on a bank of desks in an office in Leeds as the only Loiner in the room. Those people have their own team allegiances, or come from areas where RL isn't the dominant force in town. 

Nobody is up-rooting their life to move for a career opportunity in Featherstone. 

[DemonUK]

I hope there is the possibility of a takeover/acquisition.  It is continually repeated there is an NDA in place which would mean we would still not know if it actually existed if it falls through.  Another delaying tactic?? I have also seen another article where PK is quoted as saying he will lose his house and go bankrupt if they go into liquidation.

I hope I am wrong in having the opinion that these australians don't actually exist.  Maybe they are not australians, maybe its Sale Sharks

[Henson Park Old Firm]

https://www.totalrl.com/salford-red-devils-hoping-to-complete-takeover-deal-this-week/

[Father Gascoigne]

48 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

You started off well, but then changed your methodology at the end. 

You're comparing a 10 mile radius of a particular point with a city population. To be consistent, you'd do both. 

The idea that Cas (for example) do well because they draw a large crowd in comparison to their town's population ignores the obvious fact that they don't just draw from that town.

The further from the point you go, the less likely you are to draw. Using arbitrary boundaries because it's in the club's name is not a good way to measure success. 

Right, it would be the cumulative population of an area that encompasses a 10-mile radius from the stadium location. My bad on conflating that with city population.

[binosh]

Reading Matt Shaws latest social media post it looks as though Salford are ignoring the RFL’s conditions of the £500k advance.

The club were told by the RFL 5 weeks ago to slash 700k off the wages and still have not, even ignoring clubs over the last weekend and not responding to anyone, essentially they have gone quiet in the hope the club receives an offer (that was supposedly coming in Saturday) and they don’t have to lose players.

Very ballsy move considering their financial situation and very disrespectful to the RFL and other clubs. I hope this doesn’t backfire .