Quote BartonFlyer="BartonFlyer"So to precis all that - circumstances changed and the management decided that a re-branding was in the best interests of the clubs concerned?'"
I think the best way to put it is that there was less friction and more perceived benefit, particularly as both clubs’ original association had lapsed, which GT points out.
Football was a very congested market in Manchester and Newton Heath had previously tried to change their name to Manchester, which the FA blocked, around the time Ardwick changed to Manchester City in the mid-1890s. I hazard a guess the locals were far more fazed by United’s six-mile move to Old Trafford eight years after the name change, who were more than made up by Salfordians walking down Trafford Road.
As for Cavendish, they really had nothing to lose although much of its membership had to be talked round to the idea.
Whereas dropping ‘Salford’ today has, I think, much more risk attached to it. The risk is alienating another portion of its support — clearly some have not transitioned over from The Willows, yet — and I doubt the club would make that up wholly with new support from elsewhere. The key, I think, as the last match at The Willows showed, is reconnecting with lapsed support, and keeping the Salford name is crucial to that. In either case, I fear it would take more money than any RL club has got to manufacture a buzz. I’m thinking epic, Manchester Storm in their pomp proportions.
