It seems that Salford City Stadium is now to be called the AJ Bell Stadium after Sale have sold the naming rights.

rlhttp://www.salfordcitystadium.com/stadium-news/salford-city-stadium-renamed-as-aj-bell-stadium/rl

Pah. It will always be the Gus Risman Stadium to me.

And on a slightly more serious and pedantic note - the lack of "Salford" on our new badge takes on more significance as you'd assume the word Salford will be removed from the front of the west stand.

So we are now going to be stood in the Bellend stand

From now on the stadium will be known as "The A.J.Bell Stadium.Announced on RadioManc.Dont know how this will go down with our fans but i feel it wont be that popular taking the name Salford out of the name.

This seems to be a sponsorship agreement between Sale Sharks and A.J.Bell and nothing to do with us.Looks like yet again we are being treated like the poor relations by the Stadium Company.

Losing the "Salford" from the stadium name was always going to happen eventually no matter who sold the naming rights. It's just a shame that Sale will get the money for it. Even though we don't have "Salford" on the clubs badge, doesn't mean we still won't be known as that

Dont understand how Sale have sold the naming rights when they dont own the stadium and are just tenants the same as us.

Well its up to the Marketing team to talk to them about sponsorship in RL. Turn a negative into a positive.

Nine years!?!

I'm still bewildered how we gave up the Willows to get the damn thing built and now have no say in what goes on at the place...

From the moment the stadium was built the naming rights were up for sale to either us, Sale or to a sponsor. We couldn't afford it so Sale bought it and were able to sell it onto the highest bidder.

Sale deceded to buy the right to sell the naming rights off the stadium company in 2012 after Salford had either not asked, or not taken up the opportunity. Hence why 3 stands already bear the name of their corporate partners. I'm starting to dislike the place even more.

'Our' home ground, after years of attempts to get it built suddenly feels even more like a place where were just being 'allowed' to play.

This isn't Sale's fault and i genuinely feel no ill will towards them. They're making the best commercially out of a brand new stadium to take their club forward. It's yet another example of how poorly we were run previously that it now feels like were minor tenants in what was a stadium purposly built for us.

But we were just being run on a shoe-string, everything was fine really, they were doing a great job of keeping our club alive...

Does any of this matter?
We've got an owner committed to making us competitive, we've got 12 new signings, we've got a professional management team, we've got a coach with a track record of winning things, we've got a great season ticket offer (name a racehorse!!) and compared to just a few months ago we've got a future!!
I couldn't give a monkey's toss what the stadium is called, I'll be there to watch Salford!

Matters to me.Having your own ground is part of a clubs identity and long term financial viability.