Wilshere Suspended

Reds’ Papua New Guinea star John Wilshere has been suspended for one game and fined £350 for a dangerous tackle in Round Two of Super League.

Wilshere’s actions in a tackle were examined by the video review board to see if he performed an illegal throw on the French player and he was deemed to have a case to answer.

Pre-Booked Ticket Offers

Salford City Reds are pleased to announce that any fans pre-booking a match ticket for the Wigan Warriors game at The Willows before Thursday 2 March will receive a discount on the face value of entry.

This means Adult tickets are available to all fans for just £14 while Junior and Concessions can be picked up for £8, bringing prices to last year’s levels.

Season ticket holders are reminded that upon production of your season ticket book you can pre-purchase tickets to bring new supporters for an even cheaper 20% off an adult ticket or get a junior ticket for just £5, as long as the fans you are aren’t already held on our database.

Reds Ready For French

While most children in Salford’s experience of France would equate to being able to order fish soup around the corner from the post office in Bologne, Friday night sees something a little different arrive at The Willows.

While many of the Les Catalans Dragons side would have no problem with the soup order, the beating heart of the side is undoubtably one of the world’s great players hailing from New Zealand – the one and only Stacey Jones

The Dragons roll into town having created a huge Super League shock in defeating Wigan in Round 1 and come up against a Reds side that stunned pundits and fans alike with the ease of their victory against the fancied Wolves on their own patch.

“It’s certainly going to be a bit of a battle. The Dragons are well drilled and well structured and have a lot to prove both to their fans and to the rest of Super League.” – Malcolm Alker

The Reds made a total mockery of the odds on the first weekend and will be looking to back it up against the French on Friday and seal what could only be called a début volant or flying start.

There’s no doubt Jones is the danger man, he makes the Dragons tick, but last weekend this was backed up by big useful forwards with heaps of punch – quite literally sometimes in the shape of the powerful Chris Beattie or the outstanding Frenchman Julien Rinaldi.

If the Catalans were weak anywhere it was around the ruck – an area traditionally Mal Alker loves to exploit, so watch for that.

It also remains to be seen how the French will travel. The tight, cramped atmosphere of The Willows and the tiny dressing rooms directly under the bulk of Reds supporters could lead to a baptism of fire on English soil.

It is imperative Reds fans get behind the lads early on and those in the Shed make as much noise pre-game as possible directly over the Dragon’s heads. The baying 10,000 crowd at Aime Giral roared their new heroes on last weekend, this week is a totally different proposition.

Head Coach Karl Harrison still has his injury problems at half-back but he won’t be too disappointed if he has to stick with the outstanding Wilshere and Fitzpatrick partnership that dismantled the Wolves so effectively.

Reds’ captain Malcolm Alker told us: “It’s certainly going to be a bit of a battle. The Dragons are well drilled and well structured and have a lot to prove both to their fans and to the rest of Super League.”

Please bring as many people with you as possible and make this historic game one to remember.

Salford 18-man squad: Fitzpatrick, Hodgson, Moule, Stewart, Dunemann, Coley, Alker, Finnigan, Sibbit, Highton, Langi, Wilshere, Haggerty, Littler, Clough, Baldwin, Brocklehurst, Rutgerson.

Catalans Dragons 18-man squad: Guigue, Murphy, Wilson, Hughes, Verges, Frayssinous, Jones, Beattie, Guisset, Hindmarsh, Mounis, Rudder, Chan, Fellous, Touxagas, Fakir, Casty, Rinaldi

Referee: P Bentham

New RedPlanet Website launched

9 Feb 2006

Here at Salford City Reds we’ve built up a bit of a reputation for being technologically advanced. We were the first sports club in the world to sell match tickets to your mobile phone, we have a fan database tracking system that is among the best in world sport and we are constantly looking to push the boundaries of our online entertainment.

Regular viewers will have noticed a gradual downgrading over the off-season but this has been to allow the team to focus on the new site for 2006 and beyond.

Reds’ Marketing Manager Paul McNally said: “RedPlanet was launched two whole seasons ago and we felt it was about time it had an overhaul. Not only a bit of spit and polish but ramping up the content to give it more of a magazine feel. This is my background predominantly and I’m very comfortable with the way it has turned out.”

With the arrival of a new Retail and Ticketing Manager at the start of the week RedPlanet will soon be in a position to open its brand new online shop serving fans across the world once more.

“We had an online shop at the start of last season but didn’t have the manpower to put the time and effort into making it as good as it should be. Then we had to close it for technical reasons when we brought online ticketing on board but now, with our friends at Podium Solutions who have provided our new system, we’ve managed to circumvent this and are pretty much on the way to unveil, as well as this we now have people in to operate it too.. In fact the only reason it’s not ready for today’s launch was because we couldn’t get players to model the kit because they were in Jacksonville when we needed them”

The relaunched RedPlanet is a structured, tiered event starting with today’s main website. Soon to follow will be our multimedia section including video and an internet radio station – all trialled last season – as well as the aforementioned secure retail facility.

Reds ready for Derby Day action

Salford City Reds final pre-season game against local rivals Swinton Lions takes place at The Willows on Sunday 5 February.

The Reds go into the game after a useful first run-out on Wednesday against the Wolves, looking for a confidence boosting win over their neighbours ahead of Super League.

Fans will get the first opportunity to see several of the new signings in action and see how the Reds are shaping up for the new season.

Admission:-

Adults £15
Concession £9
Juniors Season Ticket holders must exchange Away Match Voucher 1 in advance of the game.