This has been doing the rounds since the mid 90's SL mergers were discussed.
Clubs adoption of brand names - Bulls - Rhino's - Warriors & Reds were in a way to offset dependance on the town name for SL audiences, old fans chant the town name , new fans rattle their merchandise and chant the brand name . The ultimate manifestation of this is American Football teams where teams are moved at will :-for instance Rams - started in Cleveland - then Los Angeles - now St Louis.
~However RL support is extremely parochial , not metropolitan , and a brash name change to the city the other side of the Irwell will only ostracize the faithfull and have little if any impact on attracting new support .
It is the same misnoma that led he club to believe a move to ground visible to a motorway would raise our profile and attract more support #utterb*ll*x
Quote SKY IS THE LIMIT,( D Tarry )The report shows that in real terms the move to a new stadium will enable Salford City Reds to draw from a much wider pool of support and provide Super League with a club that capitalises on a regional, Greater Manchester audience – something which the current location is unable to achieve.
For more than a decade now the club has asserted that in order to make any great advances a new stadium is more of a necessity than a luxury. In Salford City Reds case the club cannot break out of its inner city doldrum without breaking out of the inner city – this stated aim will, without any doubt, now be achieved before the end of 2011.
As I noted in our last submission, it is important to realise that the Sportswise report highlights that we can expect to attract an average of at least 8500 supporters in the first year drawing solely from within the boundaries of the City of Salford which has a population of 220,000 people. This would be a return of just 4% from the club’s traditional target market. When you consider that the population of the Manchester region is in excess of 2.5 million, we need only to attract a little over 0.1% of that extended market to take our crowds beyond 12,500 (and indeed beyond the phase 1 capacity of the City of Salford Community Stadium).'"
[urlhttp://www.sportswise.info/[/url
it's this blind adherence to these BS management consultantants that has led us firstly to a muddy field with diabolical parking , and nearly to it's collapse after another bunch of toffs came up with blindingly obvious statements about the way the club was being led & marketed then argued over the bill.
What a report should have said :-
Put the best team you can out on the pitch
make the club approachable , and affordable
don't buy gob-e Australians who think they're bigger than the club
END
It's normal when things in Salford become Successful & Popular they get labled as Manchester anyway - The Lowry Centre - Media City -
So If Salford become a more successful team ( Define success? [iWin more than you lose , Be a regular Playoff team , get to a final , maybe even win something [/i)
they will automatically become ' Manchesters ' RL team , but just calling ourselves ' Manchester ' is pointless .
