Saford Community Stadium
In my previous post I mentioned that the council are building a stadium for Salford Reds at a cost of £20m. This story has appeared in the local press and an extremely unequivocal statement by Steve Simms – Salford Red’s Director of Football (deputy leader cllr. Lancaster was astonishingly rude about Simms and his statement in the council meeting). Happily, Salford council’s leader and deputy leader have given strong assurances to council, in response to questions from the opposition, that the new stadium will be a community stadium with no club having exclusive use, and it is intended to be a profit making venture for the city. There’s still a business plan to be produced and this must stack up before it can be built – but I’m sure that if we can be convinced it will make money for Salford residents (or at least reduce the appalling debt the council is in) and provide a stadium for the community, then it will receive all party support.
The matter of the council loaning the club £350,000 for which it has apparently given three different accounts of what the money will be spent on is however an issue of ongoing concern.