Good and bad news.

We are going to delay putting tickets on sale until midday on Tuesday as opposed to 10am as stated earlier. That’s the bad news.

The good news comes in two parts (with more to follow). The reason for the delay is that we are waiting for confirmation on special offers that will be available to Season Ticket Holders, as well as the possibility of discounts for other groups if they buy from the club.

Please try and be patient - there is no point bombarding the club with questions at this moment as the staff have no answers to give you until tomorrow morning’s marketing meeting signs off on everything.

The second part of the good news is that we will be dedicating part of our allocation as an area for those who wish to, how shall we say, enhance the atmosphere. Noisy supporters should request to sit in this area, while those who wish to watch the match whilst eating a cucumber sandwich should request to sit away from the rabble and we will be happy to accomodate. Seats in this section will be available on a first come, first served basis. More details tomorrow.

Finally, we now know that our allocation is 1500 tickets (West Stand blocks L, K & J, Family Stand Blocks E & D and the North West Stand block H) with the possibility of ‘more if they are available’.

We will have more information on all of the above, plus details of pricing, travel and any other other promotional schemes that are given the go ahead.

Please do try and persuade your friends, families and colleagues to go along even if they have never been before - it’s a big day for both the club and the city and it would be great to see a Salfordian (and Mancunian) invasion of Blackpool that weekend!

Tickets will go on sale for the game in Blackpool on Sunday July 6th at The Willows from Tuesday at 10am.

Tickets are available to personal callers, or over the phone on 0161 736 6564, but please be aware all tickets will need to be collected and will not be posted due to the risk of them going astray in the mail.

We will be finalising our official travel plans early next week and will update the blog as soon as they are confirmed.

Well done to everyone at Bridgend yesterday - team and fans. It was a great day! Let’s make sure we take a big crowd to the final - drag everyone you can along! The lads deserve as much support as possible!

We have (finally) managed to secure additional travel for the 14th June.

Tickets are on sale now on a first come, first served basis and will not be held in lieu of payment - you must either come down to the shop and pay or call 0161 736 6564 and pay by card.

As expected the price has gone up - we worked as hard as we could to get the price down, and managed to keep the increase down to just an additional £5, making travel cost £30, which we’re sure you will agree is still a very good price!

Once again, we cannot guarantee that the next coach will not be more expensive, or even that we will be able to get more coaches, so if you want to book, book now to avoid disappointment!

Thanks.

Just wanted to clear up a few rumours regarding coach travel.

As stated in my original blog post we had limited availability for coaches at the low price of £25 as we got an excellent deal from our friends at ABC coaches, but they had no possibility of supplying further coaches. We suggested that people booked as quickly as possible to avoid disappointment as we expected a quick sell-through at that superb price, and indeed the first coach sold out very quickly with people who heeded that advice. It is clear that there are still a lot of Reds fans wishing to book.

The good news is we are definitely arranging further coach travel which will hopefully be confirmed early in the morning - the bad news is that this will be more expensive than £25pp.

Being totally honest, I had intended to finalise additional coaches today, but the clock beat me as I had other engagements that I couldn’t get out of (including getting the ageing scoreboard patched up for tomorrow’s game), so please accept my apologies for that. I did make a few calls towards the end of the day and am 95% certain something will be available by mid-morning tomorrow, I am just waiting for confirmation of both availability and price.

We realise it is frustrating, but if you can just try and be patient we will be able to assist you soon. Check the blog around 11am tomorrow and I should have some firm details.

The problem we are having is sourcing affordable coach travel as this is a busy time for coach companies with heavy demand from schools on end of year excursions, plus holiday trips (and remember that by law a journey of that distance to Celtic must have two coach drivers which adds significantly to the cost) - it actually has nothing to do with the Bruce Springsteen concert and I’m not sure where that idea has come from relating to coach travel (we know it has affected hotel availability).

We could book coaches tomorrow and charge double what we did initially, but we are trying to provide travel on a not for profit basis and hoping to make it affordable for all as a service to Reds fans. I know supporters have looked into running unofficial coaches and abandoned the idea as it is too expensive - we are fishing in the same pool and trying not to rush into the first deal on offer to ensure fans get the best value possible as always.

We will have news in the morning, in the meantime, everybody… breathe

Report by Frank ‘Scoop’ Grundy

Near misses by the Reds centres Imad Nasir and Max Wiper denied Salford the first early score, and fans had to wait until the 30th minute for normal service to be resumed by the impressive Academy side. A break down the wing from his own half by flying winger Richard Lepori set the wheels in motion and a great inside pass sent classy stand off Lewis Palfrey in near the posts for a try which he converted himself.

As half time approached the game had been very evenly matched, with the Reds pack working hard to win the arm wrestle against their highly rated opponents. Second rows Ben Wood and Jason Walton along with loose forward Jack Spencer were tireless in their determination to subdue the Wolves, and their effort was rewarded with a second try before the hooter, again converted by Palfrey and the Reds went in with a 12-0 lead.

So far, so good. And it was about to get a whole lot better.

The Reds began the second half in great style when fullback Jonathon Youds backed up superbly and then showed an impressive turn of pace to leave the Wolves trailing in his wake as he raced in at the corner. This time Palfrey was unsuccessful with the conversion, but the Reds were now firmly in control at 16-0. But they weren’t done yet!

A fantastic kick by Lewis Palfrey was collected by Richard Lepori who passed back inside to Palfrey for a wonderful score. The conversion made the score 22-0 after 52 minutes. Warrington struck back with their only score of the game - a 60 yard interception by the Warrington stand-off. The conversion was missed and the rest of the game was one way traffic.

On 71 minutes a spectacular try by the Reds saw the ball pass through at least six pairs of hands before ending up fullback Jonathon Youds, who again finished the move off in style. Some might have expected the Reds to ease up at 26-4, but the final few minutes saw further tries for prop Paul Steele and substitute Josh Saunders, both of which were converted to make the final score 38-4.

Another magnificent performance from the Academy lads who are proving to be a really tight-knit unit, all working hard for each other, tackling well and showing great expansion and enthusiasm in attack! An absolute joy to watch at the moment and well worth the entrance fee.

The club are pleased to be able to confirm the following details for away travel to Celtic Crusaders for the semi-final on the 14th June 2008, kickoff 5.30pm.

Coaches will leave the Willows at 11.30am and are priced at the ridiculously low price of £25 return. This price is only available to people who book early, and we expect the price to rise once the initial batch of places are sold out, as we will have to use different coach firms due to availability.

As a result we will not be reserving tickets in lieu of payment under any circumstances. To get a ticket at this special price you will need to pay either in person or by credit card over the phone (0161 736 6564)

It’s a big game for the club and we would encourage as many fans as possible to make the journey! See you down there!

Another fantastic performance from the lads, winning 38-4 against Warrington Wolves at The Willows and continuing to look hugely impressive. Frank Grundy’s match report will be up early next week.

Well done to Alan Hunte and his team! Get down and watch them if you can - well worth it!