One issue is that there's no money in running a rugby league club. Nor in vast majority of football clubs.

Here's another issue: what if, to maximise 'profits', such an owner were to move or rename the club?

I could see the club making money if some ofthe sundries on the land surrounding the new stadium were linked to the club, hotel, gym, park and ride (why the council/club havent cottoned onto making the area a park and ride for people who commute down the M62 is beyond me, £5 to park for the day with a ride to andfrom town would be a massive cash cow for both). Again this all comes from a company like Peel being professional you can bet werethey the current owners there would be a greater potential for the clubto make money from the new stadium than just being tennants.

Can't see them moving the club when they are in a brand new stadium, the renameing to a Manchester themed entity I could see but would we all complain if that brought about success for what we would always know andcall Salford RFLC?

Nail on Head precisely

So it has to be run not for profit, which is either as a labour of love and toy for a rich sugar daddy, or a supporters trust IF[i[/i you've got enough supporters with enough cash.

The benefit of the supporters trust approach is that it becomes self-sustaining if you can build up the initial momentum - I fear that could be a tad tricky in the current UK economic climate and given the relative economic position of the Salford area - i.e. to raise £1million - 1 donor who's won the lottery or 10,000 donors with £100 quid each - 2,000 donors with £500 etc etc - given our crowds of around 3,000 with a proportion of kids and pensioners then this would seem to be a pipe dream (not criticising kids & pensioners just commenting on the likelyhood of them having any spare cash!)

One thing I would do straight away is get a billboard the size of a battleship on the site of the new ground, artist’s impression of it, this is where the new Salford City Reds stadium will be etc., some sore of countdown timer to when it’s going to be open.

Think of the number of people that will drive past the site between now and it being built. I think the club have a great chance to get some new people down to The Willows to see a game on the back of people wanting to be part of this before we move.

Hmmm...

I like it!

you know us "oldies" have LOADS of money

Problem is, for anything around the stadium to be linked to the club from an income perspective, they'd have to be donated to the club by the development company (partly Peel) in the first place. So basically using the examples in this thread, if Peel were to buy the club as an investment, they'd first have to donate profit making facilities to the club - they could just make money off those facilities (surely one of the major reasons that they are involved anyway) without donating them to the club.

Do you really think Peel would have Salford's best interests at heart? Do you think they'd be interested in doing anything but making money off the club? And what happens if the club becomes a burden and they decide to get rid? Would we have people lining up to come in and takeover again? No, we wouldn't.

The ownership of the club is something that needs to be thought about properly, not just jumping into bed with anyone.'"

"you know us "oldies" have LOADS of money "

a) you're not an oldie
b) if you were, you'd be too busy caring for the grandchildren





However - anyone who thinks anything from a penny chew to a multi-million super-national business would be safe for "fans" if Peel owned it, needs a reality check by looking at the record.

They'd make a Scrooge pre-ghosts look like Dr Barnardo's.

Peel's sponsorship of the club will be for the same reasons as any other company sponsors any other club - for exposure of their own company.

And methinks the main reason they've stuck with the ground development is that it is vital to the rest of their developments in Salford. It's in their best interests to ensure the ground is built.



Maybe the reason people are 'running the club down' is that we know it's a critical period for the club, hence they need to get things right. There's far too many basic errors being made at the moment that are driving people away. It's all well and good having the positivity of the new ground, but unless we get the foundations of the club solid and get the simple things right, then it's all going to be a big waste of time.

There's only one thing I can imagine worse than watching a poor side every week at the Willows
- Watching a poor side whilst rattling round in a near empty new stadium!

Get it right ON THE FIELD

I don't expect trophies or even that may wins...........but 100% committment and some exciting rugby......currently neither is in evidence.