The M.E.N. revealed this week that the projected £20m cost of building the 15,000-seater stadium will be shared by Salford City council and joint land-owners Peel Holdings. It is expected to be ready by 2012.
Super League franchises are due for renewal in 2010 and the club's football director Steve Simms says Reds need the stadium to start taking shape in the New Year.
He said: "We definitely need to see something coming out of the ground at Barton fairly soon.
"Barton is vitally important to this club. We need it if we are to be a major force challenging alongside the best. This has always been the intention.
"The project has dragged on but all indi- cations now show a lot of very positive signs and that's good because it must happen and it will happen.
Guided
"It has to as part of the franchise process. The new stadium will also bolster the club's fan base."
Simms' sentiments are echoed by former coach Les Bettinson who guided the club to Championship successes in the 1970s.
He said: "The new stadium will help Salford relaunch and hopefully branch out.
"The new stadium will be an occasion, there'll be a magic feel about going to a new home and, in all fairness, attracting big crowds for Super League matches should not be a problem bearing in mind the size of the area."
Andy Gregory, another former Reds coach, is also of the view that Barton must happen. He said: "The only way forward for Salford as a city and as a Super League force is for Barton to happen. Salford would have gone under a long time ago but for the continued support of chairman John Wilkinson.
"In life, you often need a change for the better, Wigan and Warrington both needed new stadium homes and you have to move on."
Former Swinton chairman Malcolm White is also backing the Barton project but still feels the best solution would have been to merge Salford with the Swinton Lions and form a brand new Manchester Super League club, playing out of a new stadium.
Manchester businessman White's merger plan surfaced at the time he worked alongside Maurice Lindsay on the Rugby Football League board. White said: "It was genuinely felt a team with a Manchester title would carry more weight and have far greater reaching appeal and potential.
"The Salford stadium scheme has been dragging on and it's become drawn out but I honestly don't think this is John Wilkinson's fault.
"In the meantime, many other clubs - Leigh, for instance - have managed to move to new stadium homes and progress. John has been campaigning long and hard for Barton to happen for many years now.
"He deserves any success going bearing in mind the time, effort and money he continues to pump into the Salford club.
"Obviously the merger was never going to happen but Salford are Super League and they do need a stadium home.
"To me, inviting rugby union neighbours Sale Sharks to come on board and also play at Barton makes sense because it would guarantee all year round rugby at the stadium.
Welcomed
"I'm also sure the Barton location would be welcomed by the Sale fans. Travelling to Barton is surely better than going to Stockport."
Kevin Ashcroft, another ex-Reds coach, also feels it is feasible for Sale to be considered but insists Salford must remain the major player in all this.
He said: "For John Wilkinson's sake, I really do hope Barton comes off. It's something he's dreamed of, it's something he wants for the city of Salford.
"Salford do need to move and they deserve a top-class new stadium."
Danny Gray, a lifelong Salford fan from Cadishead, said: : "For the Reds to move forward, we must go to Barton. If we don't the club will definitely lose top-flight status. In an ideal world, I would love to see The Willows being upgraded but this is not feasible."
What do you think? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
We definitely need the new stadium -the sooner the better. So far it's been promises, promises ,but no action. Surely there are enough resources in salford to organize a new stadium. Otherwise the club is going to be left out of the SL in 2011. And banished to eke out an existence in the NL . This cannot be allowed to happen ! There has to be some "concrete" action on the Barton site.
On another note, it is interesting to see the progress of RL in the london area ,at the amateur level particularly . It would be encouraging if more were to be done re the expansion of RL in the Stockport side of the city . All progress up to now has been on the "Salford " side of the M/C metropolis ,which leaves vast areas to be exploited . Torred
They say its the only way forward , maybe it is in the eyes of the greedy superleague, but lets be honest, does anybody like watching rugby in quarter filled silent stadiums/ like huddersfield, sheffield etc, and paying football prices for admission food etc/ think of hull, my worry is the staduim will be empty for the vists of wakefieid, celtic etc on certain wednesday nights, but john has bankrolled the club for a long time, so its only right he should now get a return, by the way are the likes of castleford, wakefield etc , excempt with new stadium requiements........
John Wilkinson came to a meeting at a Baptist Church in Peel Green a few months ago and met fans concerned about the lack of progress on the new stadium. The man is a man of his word in the old school style, and when he say's he'll deliver, he'll deliver! We're lucky to have such a man in charge
I agree though that I've concerns about sitting in a stadium that's too big for us with no atmosphere!
I hope there will be suitable standing area's and a new Willows clubhouse.
Ground sharing with Sale is interesting, and may help with the costs, but from hearing what some Stockport County fans have said, Sale came to their ground an acted like they owned the place. The place needs to be Salfords, a fortress like a new Willows, that's intimidating to the visiting teams! Really looking forward to the new season, and seeing the team being led round the pitch by the talented Stefan Ratchford!
So is it a 15,000 capacity stadium or 20,000...???
not every person or sport in the north west has to have a manchester name mr white there are proud people who have supported salford reds for years just because swinton could not make it in the big time anymore dont brand us salfordians with a fake name we dont want
merge with swinton??
swinton wont have it not a chance.