Any thing on the official Salford reds website re all the name change, I wonder how much they knew of this last week at the relaunch...

My bet would be they knew nothing at all about it seeing as its got nothing to do with us.I can imagine the Dr is furious with the name Salford being removed from the Stadium.

It's the length of the sponsorship that bothers me,9 years if I've read it correctly .
It's bad news.
The stadium was always going to have a sponsors name,that was part of the original business plan.
So,if we'd had the naming rights then it might well have been the Bell stadium anyway.
But the press release does make it look as if its Sale's stadium that we're using.

Tut tut tut the Good Doc took his eye off the steady ship for a while whilst he built you a team. Get real he may have money but he isn't above the law and if as stated Sale have the naming rights for 9 years then he will just have to live with it.
Man city have got used to having a Bell end...i'm sure you lot will.

Aye. Seems that Sale must have bought the rights for 10 years and there's now 9 years of that left. Let's just hope that we get things massively right on the pitch and eclipse them that way.

Exactly Iain but we really should be approaching Bells ourselves.

If SALFORD is taken out of the name of the stadium, surely you would have thought that Salford council would have insisted that whatever it was called, Salford was incorporated into the name.

Unless I'm told otherwise, Salford tax payers have have half financed the building of a stadium that wil have no recognition to the city community it was built for.
I would have no qualms to whatever it was called as long as Salford was still in the title.

Who in there right mind wants the stand called " the Maggies stand"???????

I told this was gonna happen down at Wembley Shirl and you laughed it off.

Who is going to force Salford Red Devils or the RL to rename the COS stadium with regards to Rugby league fixtures or international matches? Not the City of salford stadium or Sale Sharks. Or is it me being simplistic ? Will the PA announcer have it in his Contract I doubt it . To quote the Lyrics of a Sidney youngblood song from the 90s " ALL WE CAN DO IS SIT AND WAIT " or stand or crouch.

In fairness, Maggie's is a cancer charity not the late and unmissed "lady".

A J Bell are a big firm so well done Sale. Good links with Lancashire cricket.

However the date of the posting and what happened to Stockport's stadium do leave a filthy tatste in my mouth. I hope we have locked any records and memorabilia away from Sale's skips.

Note to the good Doctor: welcome to Rugby League's place in the pecking order.

Seems strange to me that Sale signed the lease and were going to review it after 5 years - and the naming rights are for 9 years.
If A J Bell want to maximise their business opportunities would it not be better to add - investments or stockbrokers - to their name.Bell is a fairly common name even if well known in the red rose county.

I can just imagine the furore if Dr K purchased the whole thing,lock stock and barrel and named the stadium after himself.The furore from Castleford would be heard in Chistlehurst. ( and Ashby de la Zouch )

I understand that Maggies is a cancer charity but it just doesn't sound right for a stadium stand





Bells are a big company, but unless there is any benefit for Salford it is irrelevant who they are & who they have links with.
We shall just have to wait & see what transpires.

Salford Council should be criticised for selling the naming rights in the first instance, rather than going to the highest bidder themselves.

Before anyone says anything, I know the stadium company sold the rights but SCC have a big stake in that.

Don't think Bell end financial advisors and stockbrokers sounds to good.

Not by me HR

first of all we all call the ground the city of salford
then we all boycott bell (who ever there are)
and at the first thing the good doctor does when he buys the ground is kick the non sports club out.

This is all so much ranting for no rational end ultimately it's not Sale's fault.
We are still suffering the fall out from the bitter end of the Wilky- Tarry era
massively over extended borrowing , moved into the stadium stony broke ,
signed over the rights to the shop and were powerless to contest any bid for the naming rights to the stands or the stadium ,
lets face it we did to my knowledge not pay any rent last season , and racked up creditors left right & centre.

this season we are on a sweetheart deal rent wise & the new owner had to bank roll this season whilst investing in building a squad to compete on field next season.

Whilst annoying we have to remind ourselves of all the positives over this season from the low point last December where we days from blinking out of existence.

However miffed with the RU Cuckoo's I'm not going to chant 'Willows' out of context like the Giants blurt ' Fartown '.

Good post middleman. I think we should "hold the horses" This is a big political time bomb, and a few careers could be on the line.

Excellent post.

Well said Middleman

If we take other Super League clubs - Warrington play in a stadium named after a local car sales garage;Huddersfield named after a brewery;Leeds after the suburb where they are located;Wakefield - solicitors;Bradford,a loan company.
As Iain posted on the 'SBW' thread - Bunnies v Roosters - ever since Murdoch,Sky and Super League started the use of 'additional names' has been encouraged.
The Australian fixture list looks like this - Rabbitohs v Storm;Sharks v Cowboys;Roosters v Sea Eagles;Bulldogs v Knights.
No mention of their home city/town - despite those cities/towns doubtless having lots of other sporting club names.
Recently it seems players refer to Rhinos,Warriors and Giants more than they did.
When the RLE describes Eccles as a 'Manchester based team' the job of raising the profile of Salford would seem to be huge.
Having thought about it,the name of the stadium where we play isn't that big a deal.

I seriously doubt your average Salford fan will ever deal with AJ Bell, let alone have any boycotting power.

GT AJ Bell are a very reputable company,I have always found my dealings with them to be very professional. They will happily look at any individuals affairs for them.

I agree the name of the stadium isn't important to us as a team going forward. However, I'm surprised the council hasn't ensured that the name does include Salford in the title with it being a community Stadium.
The most important part of this sponsorship deal is the fact that we as a club get no revenue streams from the deal. Whereas our Cuckoos (I like that term), get all the revenue. I'm not blaming Sale it's down to overreaching ourselves to move to a new Stadium.

We need to support the new Devolution and move forward with what looks like a very competitive team on the field. We need to drag all the old fans that used to come down and any new ones that want to try our great game for the first time. That will give us a better revenue stream going forwards

My biggest problem is the way that Sale have presented this announcement.

Had they gone about this the right way and involved Salford, MUFC, the stadium management company and the council, they'd not only have avoided a lot of bad feeling, they'd also have gained far more coverage for their sponsor.

I also suspect many of us wouldn't have been that fussed about the whole thing, given the many precedents GT has already flagged up.