As of 4pm the coaches to Sheffield have sold out - we are currently looking into whether we can source further coaches, but it isn’t looking too good at this stage.

We will update the blog as soon as we have any further information. We would like to apologise for any disappointment, but we have been taken by surprise by the high level of demand for travel to this fixture.

FURTHER UPDATE

We have been unable to source any additional travel, so unfortunately (for those not booked on yet) supporter travel to Sheffield is now officially SOLD OUT.

Interesting piece in the Guardian today regarding the City of Salford Stadium and licencing process, with an interview with Reds CEO David Tarry - worth a look.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/apr/28/rugbyleague.superleague

As ever, leave your thoughts (if you have any) in the comments section. We can see this is already being vigorously debated on various fans forums

Due to significant demand for an easy way to get to this trickily timed fixture next Friday night the club is providing affordable coach travel to the Don Valley Stadium.

Places are available now for the bargain price of ten pounds, with coaches leaving The Willows at 5.15pm for an 8 o’clock kick off - this should arrive in time despite the Friday night traffic. We have attempted to make the leaving time as late as we can comfortably allow it to be to give everyone chance to get there from work, but are concerned that departure any later than 5.15pm leaves the possibility of late arrival, so the coaches will not be hanging around past that time - it is your responsibility to make sure you are there before they leave.

Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis and cannot be held in lieu of payment on the day - call the shop on 0161 736 6564 or visit personally to book your space.

One final reminder - strictly no alcohol is allowed on the coaches. Anyone behaving less than well will be ejected from the coach and left to find their own way home. There will be children on the coaches so bad language will not be tolerated.

I’m sure you will all be pleased to know that the coaches will be stewarded on this occasion by the one and only Shirley Bradshaw of Forever Reds chairperson fame, and Shirley doesn’t stand for any messing

It should be a good trip - Sheffield away is usually a good one and hopefully all Reds should arrive back home safe and happy with another three points in the bag.

Report by Frank Grundy

The game took eighteen minutes to kick into life, with neither side able to string together enough passes to score. From a short grubber kick over the line, Reds number 5 Eddie Vaughan touched down, with stand off half Mark Sneyed converting the try.

From the restart the Reds knocked on and the Leeds winger capitalised to dive over in the corner. A missed conversion made the score 6-4 to the Reds after 21 minutes. This was the cue for the Reds to go on a try scoring binge, started by Luke Ambler - who was having a great game - when he offloaded to sub Ben Wood who used his mountainous physique to great effect to crash over.

Only ten minutes later, winger Eddie Vaughan touched down for his second try, with a great conversion from Sneyed making the score 16-4. The Reds weren’t done yet, and it wasn’t long before the Reds number 14 completely hoodwinked the Rhinos defence for yet another try, again well converted. By now the Reds were in dreamland - 22-4 up against the highly thought of Leeds outfit, and well deserving such a lead.

The Rhinos rallied briefly with tries on 63 and 64 minutes to make the score 22-12, but eight minutes from the end great passing from Reds number 7 Anthony Griffiths and Eddie Vaughan put Max Wiper through for a classy but unconverted try, giving us a final score of Reds 26 - 12 Rhinos.

This was a great performance by the Reds and beating an always strong Rhinos side is not something that happens by fluke. Man of the match Luke Ambler played for most of the match but was pushed hard for the award by great performances from Jason Walton, Ben Wood and Marlon Alker.

There is some real talent in the Reds junior ranks and they deserve as much support from the Reds fans as possible. With these lads and Alan Hunte in charge, the future of the Reds looks very rosey indeed!

Hello there.

It’s been a while since I wrote a legitimate blog post but now I’m back in work after we have had our baby and things are settling down after a spate of games in quick succession, now seems like a good time.

One of the reasons behind setting up this blogging subsite was to try to chart some of the history of the club and get it all online for future generations.

There are a couple of simultaneous projects going on and it may well be in time to come that these eventually all join forces to create one mega-site of the history of Salford RLFC. Doubtless there will be discussions with Gaz Shaw, Paul Parkin and the boys helping out over there about how best to move this forward.

One thing is for sure now though, it’s 2008 and there’s no reason that we can’t digitise our history as much as possible. What we as a club have begin to do using our Flickr photo site is get as many photographs online, for starters, from games this season, and as the weeks go by from seasons past.

This is easy to do from the last few years as the photos are digital, we do however have an older archive of prints that will need scanning and fixing before uploading. This is a longer term project and will be added to over time. It may be that some of the pics are never even viewed but it is correct that they are archived anyway.

I have also started uploading pics of past players into their own set. These can be as recent as the likes of Coley and Robinson but also will stretch back over time as we get chance to scan more. Some of these are illustrious faces that graced The Willows. Others will be Paul Carige Some will bring back belting memories such as little Paul Shaw, others will be Paul Carige.

By all means have a look round our Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/salfordcityreds or you can see the latest over there on the right or from the front page of reds.co.uk

I’m excited about the possibilities of being a part of getting all this archived ahead of the move in 2010 so if anybody has anything to contribute, feel free to drop me a line at paul.mcnally@reds.co.uk.

Cheers,

Paul

Salford City Reds players observed the new ‘City of Salford’ stadium plans earlier this week, when Project Managers, Drivers Jonas and stadium architects AFL, revealed detailed plans for player facilities during a presentation at The Willows. Keen to see how their new home for the 2010 season is taking shape, players took a keen interest in all aspects of the stadium design but more so the player facilities, including changing rooms, gym facilities, a 25 metre pool and pitch area, concluding the presentation with plenty of questions for the presenting architect. With interior areas of the stadium designed according to requirements of players and staff alike, the team and Salford City Reds employees were invited to observe the final draft before building begins later this year, a concept that is not lost on Reds Captain, Malcolm Alker:  “Having been used to the aging facilities of the willows, the new stadium facilities look amazing.  I think the future of Salford City Reds is looking very bright and with an International standard of stadium, I don’t thing the Reds will have many problems attracting the high profile rugby league players from around the world.” 

Salford City Reds media partner and shirt sponsor, Channel M will be following the fortunes of sides competing in the Fraser Eagle National Conference League plays offs tonight (Wednesday 23^rd April) at 7pm as part of the code XIII programme. The programme will then be repeated on Wednesdays (11pm), Thursdays (11am), Fridays (11am), Saturdays (11.30am) and Sundays (1.00pm). National Conference League Chairman Trevor Hunt said, “It is great to have Channel M on board like this, and of course they can be watched on digital TV or the worldwide Web. Hopefully sports fans will like what they see and come and try a live game or two. “As far as the matches go, Rochdale Mayfield’s extra time win at Leigh East was a terrifically gripping clash last week, and this Saturday’s games that have Minor Premiers, Leigh Miners Rangers at home to second placed East Hull, and Skirlaugh’s home visit from Mayfield, promises to be just as gripping.” Channel M are also looking forward to covering the amateur games flagship League. “We’re delighted to be working with the RFL and National Conference League in giving these fixtures an outlet for Grassroots Rugby League on television. We have no doubt over the quality on offer during the play-offs and feel they will be a worthy addition to what is an already successful programme format,” said James Lynch, Code XIII Producer. Channel M is the only local TV station for Manchester and is available on Terrestrial channel 39, Virgin Media channel 878 in the Greater Manchester region, and nationally on Sky channel 203. The Final will take place at Featherstone Rovers Chris Moyle’s Stadium on Saturday May 10th. The Fraser Eagle National Conference League Grand Final Play OffsSaturday 29th April 2008 Qualifying FinalLeigh Miners Rangers v East Hull Elimination semi finalSkirlaugh v Rochdale Mayfield Both kick off at 2.30pm.