I think you're right about Barton .I 've always thought it a district of Eccles and i suspect some folks at Salford Reds might be begining to share your sentiments about a club playing within its traditional locale as well. Because its obvious Salford Red's appeal is thin on the ground outside the original historic boundaries of Salford judging by the underwhelming crowds. This apparent indifference is perhaps a reflection of the general indifference to the City of Salford LA . Many folks in Eccles, admittedly of a certain generation, have seen Eccles inclusion and association with Salford to be a period of seemingly endless decline. They're hardly going to wrap themselves in a red scarf and bang the drum for the Council's sporting standard bearer. The younger generation probably see themselves as Salford to a degree but not to the point of getting out and supporting the Salford RL team . Football and particularly United have captured their allegiance a long time ago. Which is ironic as Reds fans are normally Utd fans as well. Generally there simply is'nt the same sense of cohesion and identity around that our neighbours like Wigan, Bolton or even Bury seem to be able to invoke. Our original district identities still seem to matter ten x more than our LA identity. Time might resolve this in the long run but if they thought the outer districts were full of latent Reds fans just waiting to revel and glory in their new (relatively speaking)Salford identity in a sparkily new stadium they were sadly mistaken.