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

[urlhttp://www.salfordcitystadium.com/stadium-news/salford-city-stadium-renamed-as-aj-bell-stadium/[/url

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.

Doesn't seem to matter to Hull FC, Huddersfield or Wigan. Correct me if I'm wrong but the money taken for naming rights don't go to the rugby clubs

Just reinforces the feeling that the stadium isn't ours. Hope Marwan gets something sorted with regards to the stadium ownership, or move us somewhere else. West One in Eccles is my preferred destination, excellent transport links and in dire need of redevelopment.

Should it matter? No, of course not, it's not the most important issue affecting the club at the moment. Does it matter? Yes, for a number of reasons:

[listWe seem like second class citizens compared to Sale
This is a sponsorship opportunity that has, for whatever reason, been offered to, and taken up by, one club only, meaning the other loses out on an income
Losing "Salford" out of the stadium name is not only another perceived "creep" by various people to lower our profile, but it's bad news for Salford as a city having the name removed from a major marketing strength. The "AJ Bell Salford Stadium" would have made everyone feel a lot better, to my mind
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Wilky and Tarry's legacy for the club. There's a reason Koukash wants to buy a stake in the stadium, shenanigans like this point to why. We'll struggle to make the stadium self-sufficient for the club if Sale have control of stadium and stand sponsorship and dropping Salford from the branding (I hate that word in sport) makes Salford people feel even more distant from everything than they already do.

I see as I've been posting that someone's said the money doesn't go to the two clubs. Sale bought the rights to the stadium and stand naming from the SMC, therefore they'll be the ones profiting from this.

Agree completely on the ownership issue - yes it would be greatly preferable if we owned our own stadium rather than renting - but some arbitrary name? Sorry I just can't get worked up about that, there's much much more to be excited about anticipating next season!!

The simple answer is yes, yes it does matter.

Whether it makes a personal difference to you is a different issue. We've announced a raft of new signings and there is so much positivity around the team it's unbelievable, and I'm absolutely loving it. The stadium in general however is a massive elephant in the room. It's been said countless times that we need to own the stadium to improve our financies - this is yet another example of how far away that dream is.

The naming right's alone isn't the single issue here. It's the lack of identity to the name Salford in a stadium in Salford, designed and built for a Salford team and the fans/community of Salford. Whilst we may play there, we really don't have any obvious affiliation or say in what goes on there. It's a sad indictment of where we were as a team & a club when we moved into it.

Looking at the press release and the accompanying picture, all but the uninitiated would think this stadium belongs to Sale.

I don't often agree with our Daz, but his facebook status sums things up I think

''Right now I’m in a mood, the Salford name gets dropped from the badge, the Salford name gets dropped from the stadium do Salford have an identity anymore? Sale have naming rights to the stadium for 9 whole years thanks to Wilky. Sale have took over the club shop, The fans bar was only introduced last year in the build-up to Sales season (no coincidence) , Salford fans had to put up with a tent. I don’t enjoy going to ‘home’ games and seeing pictures of Union s on the wall either.

Salford Fans - Will you please stop tweeting the chairman’s 14 year old daughter about Friday / Sunday games, Future signings and any other you are coming out with, it’s embarrassing cringeworthy and quite frankly a bit ing wrong.

Koukash buy the f#in stadium please.''

Perfectly put Tommo

And hasnt that worked out well in terms of fan numbers for Huddersfield.They have a great team but still struggle to generate a crowd above 5k throughout the season.

Wigan and Hull both share their grounds with Wigan and Hull football teams so still strong local connections and identities.In Hulls case Adam Pearson has at various times owned the Rugby Club,Football club and the stadium.

Our circumstances are a lot different from those 3 clubs.A lot of Salford fans didnt want to even move to Barton in the first Place and will feel this stadium is even less of a home now.I understand that it was a case of needs must and we should all be extremely grateful that we still even have a club but that doesnt alter the fact that we need our own Stadium or at least some of it for our long term financial security,a fact that Dr Koukash has said himself on many occasions.I wonder how he views this Stadium naming issue with the name Salford removed from it.

Derek with the greatest of respect Salford didn't give the Willows up to get that Stadium built, else if you did it would have formed part of the old clubs CVA.
Your current club are tenants and unfortunately lost any right to dictate what happens, especially when it seems Sale stole a march on Salford.