Commentator has just said that Sale are to make a big announcement next week about off field developments and they have big plans to try to stop the northern rot of RU.

Will watch with interest at these plans!

Could be something to do with this, www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -West.html

Could be something to do with this, www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -West.html

That is a very provocative statement from Diamond that does not suggest they are interested in sharing with Salford rather than tring to destroy us along with the rest of rugby league in the North west. The whole of rugby league should take this as a declaration of war from Sale and the RFU. Salford City council and the stadium management need to think long and hard about the possible ramifications of Sale succeeding in their plans and be way of giving them the keys to the stadium and the opportunity to kill us off.

"We want to seize Manchester". That statement pretty much sums up for me why any rugby league supporter should be wary about giving Sale a platform to build from.

Maybe it should be a case of keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

I would be wary as a RL supporter of what Sale's intentions truly are.

Could be the best thing to happen to Salford RL in years if you can rise to the challenge and put in similar efforts to attract new fans. You will have a significant headstart, even if Sale move in during the summer, so make the most of it so that people also have an awareness of RL by the time Sale make their push.

RL is by far the superior 'product' on and off the field, it's just a case of people being aware of that before Sale move in on 'our' patch (I say that as much for RL on this side of the hills).

The article in the national press seems to be just a regurgitation of what was printed 12 months ago
rlhererl
Seems they have a lot of work to do and lots of decisions to make.

Spot on. This should not be taken lightly.

We pretty much have the North wrapped up. Leeds is not a problem, football is far too popular for RU to ever become big there, especially as the RL team is one of the biggest clubs in the game. Newcastle is not a problem for us as we don't have a league team there and again, football is far too popular for RU to take off bigtime. Manchester is a probelm though, we cannot let it slip. There seems to be enough RU interest, just look at the England crowd against Argentina at Old Trafford. RL needs a strong Salford team, near the heart of Manchester and neighbours to the new media city. A strong Salford club is more important than ever.

We will never compete with RU at international level, they will take games to 50k+ stadia all over the country and fill them for games not including England. But we NEED a stronger club game, yes we need to increase our International coverage etc. but if we can win these little battles against Union then we can fully take the North. With the amount of money in Union, Sale do have the potential to become a very strong club. Some big investement could see them up at the top of the league, filling Salfords RL stadium every week and playing the occasional game att Old Trafford with huge crowds. RL, Salford and the RFL can't let it happen.

Sale had 9k for the last home game against Newcastle who are the bottom team. If they took that support straight into Barton with a move there, it would be very bad news for Salford.

Well at least the Sale RU marketing & PR department are showing ambition and obviously have projection, aims to progress. Have we ?, doubt it very much as stated on other thread's. Salford put all their resources into the playing staff (cast off's), not marketing, it cost's too much for very little return. We should be very wary of the Sale marketing juggernaught, and at the very least should be making every effort to match them in this field, especially with the new stadium, new era new start, trying to cunjour new support, and your'e not going to generate this just by building a new stadium. It hurts me that Sale are favourite's to take manchester, but never the north west.

it's not just the "Sale marketing juggernaut" we need to worry about it's the support the RFU will give them to increase an already larger footprint in Salford / Manchester and increase their crowds even more. The RFU are desperate to have their game overeshadow RL in the North.

Then if the RFU offering funding to Sale surelyit's time the RFL dug deep to counteract the percieved threat. Salford might not have the biggest marketing budget but pretty sure that the RFL could afford to invest in marketing what is a good product in the Manchester area, they are taking the roadshow games to the football ground so there is the perfect oppurtunity to start.

Said it before and I still see that it makes perfect sense that if Sale move to the Enormadome then we as an entity need to learn from them as let's be fair they are much more professional in thier marketing efforts.

Has anyone thought that all this is a reaction to the anouncement of Northhamptons inclusion to the championships and Bristol and Ireland holding games during the RL World cup. I think the gloves are already off in both codes.

lol as if rugby union cares about that

Northampton will have no fans and either mooch around the lower divisions for a while or get fast tracked into Super League and go bust after a couple of seasons.

Bristol and Ireland's world cup games won't even make the local papers, there will be fewer fans there than for a National League RL game.

As for Sale's 'northern revolution' the basic problem is Premiership RU is not exciting enough. I agree with them that the north is a big market for RU in terms of it being played in schools and universities, and there are lots of northern RU fans that will follow England RU, but getting them excited about club RU is another matter. In club RL there is a long standing history and rivalry between clubs and people identify with clubs in the way football do, but that doesn't exist in RU. I know loads of people from uni and work that are union fans more than league fans, but if you ask them who they support they say "I don't really follow a club I just support England", you never hear a league fan say that ever.

I predict lots of hot air from Sale.

Sale is predominant in south Manchester already but it is based on local clubs as much as anything. There is a mental pyramid structure in placetherl] regional club and so support them.

Sale will want to build on the work done by Salford's Foundation; just as we would work on what they had done if we were moving into (say) the Heatons.

Once this juggernaut starts, we will be pushed to one side: so the best tactic would be to get into the local clubs and schools NOW at even a higher level than the moment - this costs time and money so perhaps ForeverReds may look to see wjhat they can do?