Last Remaining Tickets for Millennium Magic

Salford City Reds now have a limited stock of match tickets for Millennium Magic this weekend and to celebrate we have extended our £10 coach offer until Thursday. Simply come into the shop from Tuesday and buy your tickets and booker your place to Wales for just a tenner!

May 6 will be a very special day indeed when the Salford City Reds run out at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the very first time as part of the Millennium Magic weekend. To celebrate this momentous occasion, and to make it more affordable for our loyal supporters to be a part of it, we are offering hugely discounted coach travel to all 2007 Salford City Reds Season Ticket Holders who purchase their Millennium Magic tickets from us before Friday 27 April!

Buy your ticket from us and you can get return travel to Cardiff for just £10! (a massive saving of £20 over the regular price of £30 for this trip!)

All you need to do to take advantage of this incredible offer is return the enclosed application forms, either by post or in person, along with your relevant payment and we will do the rest!

And don’t worry if you’ve already bought your Millennium Magic tickets, this offer is still available to you – simply bring your Millennium Magic receipt down to the shop, pay your £10 and sit back, relax and let us whisk you off to Cardiff in affordable style.

As an added bonus, everyone who buys (or has already bought) a Millennium Magic ticket before Friday 27 April will be automatically entered into a draw to win two seats on the flight with the players to France for our game against Catalans on 19 May!

Hope to see you all there!

PLEASE NOTE THIS OFFER IS NOT JUST FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS BUT APPLIES TO ALL FANS

Club Issue Coley Statement

Salford City Reds have today issued a statement regarding the future of Andy Coley at The Willows after he has been rumoured to have signed for Wigan Warriors ahead of Friday’s game against them.

Director of Football Steve Simms said: “Andy Coley is contracted to the club until 31 August 2007 and the coaching staff have indicated to the player their intention for this contract to be extended beyond that term.”

Coley is set to play against Wigan at The Willows this Friday Evening in Super League – 8PM kick off.

Salford City Reds 20-man squad:
Hodgson, McGuinness, Moule, Wilshere, Dorn, Robinson, Coley, Korkidas, Edmondson, Sibbit, Finnigan, Highton, Viane, Haggerty, Adamson, Littler, Turner, Jewitt, Williams, Berthezene.

Wigan Warriors 20-man squad:
Ashton, Calderwood, Bailey, Richards, Barrett, Leuluai, Fielden, Higham, Paleaaesina, Hock, Fletcher, O’Loughlin, Vaealiki, Millard, Prescott, Hansen, Goulding, Tomkins, Colbon, O’Carroll.

Bertie Extends Stay

Salford City Reds can today confirm that Frenchman David Berthezene will be staying with the club until the end of the season.

Originally on loan from Les Catalan Dragons for a one moth period, ‘Bertie’ joined the Reds after captain Malcolm Alker sustained injuries at the Wigan game in March and has since been a firm favourite with the Reds supporters.

Reds’ Director of Football Steve Simms said, ‘David has been showing good form since he has been with us. Initially he wasn’t match fit, but several games in he is showing his strengths.’

When questioned about whether David might continue with the Reds next season Simms continued,

‘That’s up to David; if he wants to stay at Salford he is going to have to show us his commitment to the club, but David will play an important role here even when Malcolm returns ’

Having signed the contract after training on Thursday, David commented, ‘I’m delighted to be staying at Salford this season. The players are great and the supporters have made me feel really welcome. I just want to do my best for the Reds and make the most of my time here.’

With Malcolm Alker still out with a niggling knee injury for the next 2 – 4 weeks, Bertie will be in the team against Hull KR this Sunday.

Hull KR Ticket Information

Hull Kingston Rovers have requested the return of their pre-sale tickets from Salford City Reds with immediate effect.

Sunday’s game is being used as part of a promotion where KR fans can use the ticket stub as collateral towards a ticket for the Hull derby, therefore a capacity, or close to it, attendance is expected at Craven Park for the Salford fixture.

If you have not pre-purchased a ticket from us already fans are advised to contact Hull KR on 01482 374648 before travelling to check availability of walk-up entry.

Tickets will be available at the Club Shop until later this afternoon or you can call us on 0161 736 6564 and we will take a paid telephone booking for later collection.

If we have any remaining stock tomorrow we will update here.

Please inform any friends or family who may not be aware of this. This is obviously a huge game for the club and we need as many Reds fans there as possible to cheer the lads on against the best part of 9,000 Hull fans.

Salford City Reds 20-man squad: Hodgson, McGuinness, Moule, Wilshere, Dorn, Robinson, Coley, Korkidas, Edmondson, Sibbit, Finnigan, Highton, Viane, Haggerty, Adamson, Littler, Turner, Jewitt, Williams, Berthezene.

Hull KR 20-man squad: Cockayne, Dyer, Goddard, Bauer, Hardman, Chester, Webster, Vella, Fisher, Ward, J. Netherton, Hill, O’Neill, Aizue, Gannon, Gene, Lennon, Morton, Tangata-Toa, Gallagher.

Referee: G Hewer

Behind the Scenes with Marketing Manager, Paul McNally

In the first of a new regular feature we speak to Reds’ Marketing Manager Paul McNally about the changes that have been taking place in order to promote the Reds to an even wider audience.

“What we’ve tried to do this year is build on the successes of last year. Not just the top five finish but getting the stadium decision has played a big part. It’s enabled us as a marketing department to actually look ahead and start thinking about putting things into place for a few years down the line when things are totally different for the Reds.

Over the last year we’ve grown in confidence as an off-field team and it’s been great , the board has trusted us enough to back us to spend a little bit of money on things that traditionally haven’t been top of the list at Salford.

Once again Barton has just given everybody that bit more confidence to push things forward and tweak the boundaries of what we have been able to do before.

At the end of last season we decided that rather than just sticking posters with a time and date up around the city in the sameplaces, that this year we would actually focus on a campaign for the first time. You could say there was a brainstorming session about what to do but in reality it was a few nights after work in the Inn of Good Hope, so we’re a bit stuffed for next year now it’s closed!

The coverage we’ve had for the campaign has far exceeded what we expected really. We even had a two-page spread in MEN women’s section!

I see what we do as a marketing and media team as an evolution, it won’t stay the same now, we’ll hone and fiddle with things until we’re completely happy. Super League these days is still all about what happens on the field on a Friday night but we’re under ever increasing pressure, not just from the game itself but from the people that come to a game to provide them with a lot more for their money.

Even though for sport we are ludicrously cheap for a family to come and enjoy we’re still looking at a mum, dad and two kids paying £40 to get in to a game if they want to just come to a few nights and when you think of the other family entertainment you can get for that kind of money it’s tough out there for us. For example you can sit yourself in the comfort of a nice warm cinema on a freezing February night for much less than that. We have to persuade families that they will get more out of spending their money with us than seeing another animated film about fish.

One of our main angles of attack this year is to give the people of Salford and Greater Manchester the chance to identify with us and the lads playing the game. This isn’t a game being played by a field full of millionaires who couldn’t care less whether you turn up or not. These are real people being watched by real people.

The primary aim of the poster campaign was to make the players more recognisable throughout the city and also to ask the people who live here, in a light-hearted way why they don’t come to The Willows. We know there are many reasons – lack of success over 30 years, finances, even people in the city who don’t even know we exist, our aim is change these and make Super League the buzz of the city.

Anybody who was at The Willows on Good Friday and then again last weekend will have noticed the shift in music policy. I’ve long been an advocate of playing local music pre-game and some recent changes have allowed us to get this in. Many people will not even be aware that all the music we now play comes from within about 10 miles of the ground, but for those that are, it just gives them a little more ownership – you know, ‘this is where we’re from’ type of thing – our club, our city, one true identity.

We know we have a hell of a lot of things to continue doing, and our current league position is never going to make marketing ourselves easier, but when that changes in a few weeks we have to have been banging the drum even louder to hook all the new faces in.

Bringing Barney in this season has given us options we have not had before. Cas Derbyshire who did it for years before that and who trail blazed my position at the club if you like is amazing and a true fan and friend, did a fantastic job. Barney is a different entity because he’s a bit a of a cheeky one.

They both have their plusses. Barney probably found it easier to step into Carolyn’s shoes because the fans knew him from Code XIII on Channel M, so it made sense to put in this tiny man who is larger than life. And he is a tiny man, and while he may have ducked me in the charity boxing the other week it’s the fight the fans want to see. We’re just waiting for Frank Warren to get it on for us.

Besides those changes Ignito has been a big plus for us this year too. 2007 has seen him come of age and the fans take to him because he’s possibly a little bit crackers but in a good way. The kids love him and I was talking to parents the other day who’s little ones just wanted to come so they could meet him which is cool. We intend to use him more and get him seen a bit more in public over the next year too because he’s something we can really use in the schools and the community.

The Reds is different from any other huge international companies I’ve worked for before such as Sky because we can listen to our supporters a lot more. Sport has gone along the lines of fans being “customers”, and while that’s true and I can see why they are referred to as that, they are only a customer because they are a supporter in the first place. We can’t ever forget that.

The Boy Out of the City..

‘You can take the lad out the city, but not the city out of the lad’, so says Adrian Morley, who popped into the Willows ahead of the Salford City Reds V Warrington game tomorrow (Good Friday).

Despite being ruled out of tomorrow’s game due to a facial injury, the Warrington forward came to check out the ground where his team will be playing tomorrow and where the world of rugby league started for a young ‘Mozza’.

Salford born and bred Adrian watched the Reds as a child, was a Junior Red Devil and since his return from Australia having played for Sydney Roosters, is quick to point out that he has moved back and is again living in his beloved city. With girlfriend Clare having recently given birth to baby son Leo, Morley is also keen to point out that his son was born in nearby Hope hospital and is ‘A true Salfordian, just like his dad!’

So with a four year contaract at Warrington wolves ahead of him, Morley’s career is looking quite rosy and he is looking forward with anticipation to the Good Friday clash, commenting,

‘It’s always going to be interesting when these two teams come together. There was very little between them last year and this season both teams are very committed. I think we’re in for a great game with both teams determined to take those two points.’

The match tomorrow will be the first of four meetings for Salford and Warrington this season, the next being the Millennium Magic weekend in Cardiff on Sunday 6 May and Morley is hoping to be back to full fitness to take on the challenge,

‘I think Millennium Magic is a fantastic idea and great for the development of rugby league. Salford and Warrington are going to be sick of the sight of each other by the end of the season but Cardiff is something very different for all Super League teams and players this year and I’m looking forward to it.’

Salford City Reds V Warrington Wolves kicks off at 3pm tomorrow (Good Friday). Tickets for the game are available from the Reds ticket hotline on 0870 118 1914 and also from www.reds.co.uk until 12 Midnight, Thursday 5 April and after that directly from the club on Good Friday itself.

Salford City Reds v Warrington Wolves, Friday 6th April, kick-off 3pm

Salford City Reds squad: Hodgson, McGuinness, Moule, Wilshere, Dorn, Robinson, Coley, Korkidas, Finnigan, Highton, G. Viane, Brocklehurst, Haggerty, Adamson, Littler, Gower, Turner, Jewitt, Williams, Berthezene.

Warrington Wolves squad: Reardon, Fa’afili, Martin Gleeson, Grose, Bridge, Leikvoll, Clarke, Rauhihi, Anderson, Mark Gleeson, Pickersgill, Bracek, Harrison, Wainwright, Riley, Cooper, Penny, Blythe, Jerram.

Referee: B Thaler

Willows Hosts U16s International

This weekend will see The Willows host the Schools Under 16 International between England and France on Easter Saturday 7 April.

The squad of 20 for the weekend fixture will include Jack Spencer and Max Wiper, both of whom are contracted to the Salford Academy and Jonathan Youds, a foundation squad member who is being closely monitored by coaching staff, who believe it is only a matter of time before he will be contracted.

Junior Academy Coach Alan Hunte said, ‘I’m very pleased to have two contracted players in such a prestigious game. It shows the advancement made by Salford Academy in introducing Jack Spencer to the club and furthermore attracting Max Wiper and Jonathan Youd. I have no doubt that all three will distinguish themselves at club level.’

Good Friday also sees the England Youth under 15’s team play the Welsh under 16’s team in South Wales with Salford Scholarship player Richard Lipori starting on the wing.

Hunte continues, ‘This tops a fantastic four months for Salford Youth, gaining for the first time International representation at all levels and including 17 year old Jordan Turner and 18year old Luke Adamson who are also in the Reds first team squad.’

It would appear that Salford City Reds have much talent to look forward to as their young lads move their way up through the ranks and with role models like Andy Coley and David Hodgson, both fulfilling International honours Salford have every reason to be confident for the future.

Tickets for the Under 16’s International game are priced at £3 for adults and £1 for Concessions and available on the day of the game. Please note access to the ground is via the turnstiles next to the club shop. Kick off 2pm

Reds Draw Giants in Challenge Cup

Salford City Reds have been drawn against Huddersfield Giants in Round Five of the Carnegie Challenge Cup. The Super League teams were drawn together just two weeks after the reds recorded a fine win at Huddersfield in the league.

Further details and ticket information will follow.

The draw in full:

Whitehaven V Les Catalans Dragons
Warrington V Barrow
Leeds V Wigan
Hull FC V Sheffield
Salford V Huddersfield
St Helens V Rochdale
Oldham V Harlequins
Wakefield V Bradford