Re: Salford Carpark : Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:44 pm  

Hopie wrote:

The overall message I got from last night's visit was "Dont come back" - away fans are generally harder to dissuade than home fans so I worry for Salford's prospects of growing crowds

Been there now - doubt I'll go back.

The Willows may have been shabby but I never had to pay for parking - it was easy to get to but more importantly easy to get away from and there was that 'old school' feel about it.

Salford had the opportunity to build a great stadium but have somehow missed the mark.

Re: Salford Carpark : Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:58 pm  

I thought the stadium itself is a perfectly decent little stadium, but as mentioned above, a few issues let it down:
- seating down the side doesn't help the atmosphere
- sponsor boards unsold
- no signposting on the M60
- seems daft to have to buy a ticket from a booth then in the turnstile hand the ticket over to be scanned. Either just pay cash to the person on the turnstile or have an automatic scanner like at Headingley.
- and then, of course, the car park. Conflicting information from club and stadium websites. And far far far too long wait. As Fat Boy says it seems like no consideration was made in the planning of the stadium for the car park. To have one road in and out is daft. To have nowhere else for pedestrians to go (and so having to block exits from the car park) is even more daft. The road should have been made one way at the end of the game to get as many cars out as quickly as possible.

For a newly built stadium the car park is a big mark against it. It shouldn't take over an hour to get out of a stadium when there were only 6-7,000 people there.

Re: Salford Carpark : Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:50 am  

unfortunately salford do not have much say in a lot of the stadium due to the salford city stadium management company running things and very poorly they do so.

as i see it far to many sub contractors ,g4s do the stewarding and car parking which as you know is a complete and utter c*ck up.ticketline deal with the tickets which they have had plenty of problems for anyone wanting to go to the game, food an drink is sub contracted an the food is very average at best. very poor communication with all parties involved.

with the road till peel holdings get the go ahead to build port salford which on the plans show link road directly on to the motorway from the stadium side, road going over the canal to the Trafford centre and putting a big roundabout on the location before you enter the current site. the lights which i guess are a huge problem with getting cars away from the ground should be put on a sort of override for a certain time so that cars can just drive off to the motorway

lot of people agree with the fact the smaller side stand should of been the main home stand with standing as the view is more impressive looking at the bigger more expensive west stand. very true looks like all the hard work went into the main stand to accommodate the corporate side of things to then just build 3 sheds, weather intime they will improve the feel of the bars under the stands i.e a perimeter table so you can at least put your pint on just looks like they have not put much effort for the home or away fans fingers crossed it gets better as i do fear for us.

Re: Salford Carpark : Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:14 am  

I honestly didn't mind the Stadium ,i noticed a few disabled and elderly fans getting switched to the blue seats next to the away end in the SS maybe they should of given that option to everyone.
What i found ridiculous was turning up with tickets getting directed to the north stand entrance only to be told it didn't open till 6pm and to watch the u20's we had to walk all the way back to the far corner of the West stand to get in then walk round to the North stand!!
As fro the delay there were warnings that the driving routes would be closed for pedestrians prior to the game and during the game itself and whilst i accept its a ball ache until the people in overall control improve it (with more routes and roads in/out) i don't see what the club could of done.

Re: Salford Carpark : Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:28 am  

To counteract all the negative stuff on here, the pitch (as it should be in a new stadium) was superb, ideally suited to our fast open style of rugby.
Re parking, most new stadia seem blighted, the DW can be difficult to get away from, the Keepmoat is poor, the Galpharm can be tricky if you know no better & park at the ground.
KC is ok though not that I like going there.
I wonder how Langtree Park will compare, we'll all know better after next week.
Despite all that at least Salford does have a new stadium unlike some of our close neighbours.

Re: Salford Carpark : Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:25 pm  

trigger wrote:

Honestly didnt rate the stadium its too open they should look to close in those corners even if purely with cladding it feels like all the money was spent on the one grand stand then the rest just 3 cowsheds built it lacked any atmosphere atall . This is the trouble with new grounds. Will have to see how langtree park is next week.

Got to agree, thought the stadium lacked any atmosphere whatsoever. Most clubs won't bring as many fans as leeds and most won't be as voiciferous, the Willows generated lots more atmosphere with half the number of people. It was a terrible view from our stand behind the goals and the queues for food etc were just as bad as any of the oldest grounds. Overall it's got to be a 1 out of 10 from me.