RE IMAGE OF CRIMINALITY:
next time I hear a BBC Radio 4 doumentary or interview, I must realise it will be to do with crime (only the Mafia are to be allowed on Desert island Discs from now on)
next time I use electricity, I'll think "That Joule, such a rogue, the Krays were mere children"
next time see a film by Mike Leigh, I'll expect Goodfellas
next time I pass the Quays, there'll be a queue of people with feet in cement buckets.




Check advise re canal cruising: the Bridgewater gets little warning of possible vandalism, The Rochdale Canal through Manchester and Oldham requires frequent supervision of craft to ensure safety.

You have a very out-of-date image of Salford.

In fact, keeping Salford makes it easier to market against the two football giants.

Koulash will get Swinton for free,as they have no money,no coach,no ground and no assets.They will be Salfords feeder club with Alan Hunte as coach, once they pay the players the great amount of cash they are owed from last season.None of last seasons squad will sign because of the payments outstanding from last season.

I wouldn't imagine Koukash or his coaching staff would want many of last seasons playing squad considering the position they finished in.

I do a fair bit of work in and around Salford, and like the majority of the north of England, its a bit of a s***hole - Its probably the reason that Super League struggles so much finding sponsorship, because not many flagship companies would want to nail their mast to a sport that is entrenched so deeply within the working classes who follow RL.

From a money-making point of view, sponsoring RL is never going to be a goer, purely because most of the folk who follow the sport don't have much cash to spend on the potential sponsor's products.

What an arrogant toss remark,you really do need to go back to junior school pal.

oh my word. A more blinkered and uneducated post i have yet to see on here. You sir are an ass. Where is the bbc again? Salford is one of, if not the most forward thinking cities in England. Yes, there are poor areas, but compared to our younger brother Manchester we are streets ahead in that regard. Ever been to Gorton, or longsight, or levenshulme, or ancoats, or openshawe, or collyhurst, or newton heath, or moston, or harpurhey, or blackley or myriad other places in Manchester? Or myriad places in London? Or Castleford? EVERY city has poor areas. Salford is THE city atm, and now our savior the right honourable sir Marwan has nailed his considerable colours to our mast the sponsors will come flooding in. Get a grip.

It is obvious he like leaving Salford, and as he has called it a s***hole, we know what leaves s***tholes.

Yeah. What a f*cking s***hole. Your opinions and views on Salford (and the North, in fact) are, quite frankly, disgusting. And I'm talking as someone who's from neither Manchester or Salford. Every city has it's undesirables, regardless of what part of the country they are in.

You know you've arrived when your new gaff is held up as an example of how nice Salford is, where is the garden picture taken?

I think it's obvious we're all reacting to a troll as only a simpleton would make an assumption that Salford is like any other town/city that as cack holes and nice areas. The thing with Salford is that there seems to be significant investment in the city and with the relocation of certain aspects of the BBC there is tangible proof that what is being done is working.

The trees are Buile Hill Park, the flower beds are Peel Park.

isn't this Garden in Peel Park a representation of the RL challenge Cup , Designed by the Salford Parks Dept to celebrate the 1938 cup win ? or is this an 'urban garden myth'

Its better than it used to be, well in some respects... https://vimeo.com/68841275

Its better than it used to be, well in some respects... https://vimeo.com/68841275

As much as I admire your defence of Salford, I fear posting those pictures is only going to encourage trolls to post other pictures of some 'less picturesque' areas.

That's fine. I'll just post 'less picturesque' photos of wherever it is they happen to live.

Poor post badly put. In short, bad point not well made

You've certainly made yourself look a bit daft here and that's putting it as politely as I can.

..... I've pointed out that the North of England isn't that great and it could be a reason the sport struggles to make money and much of an impact nationally??.... That isn't such an outrageous thought, surely??

A value judgement if ever there was one - in case you need a definition: an assessment that reveals more about the values of the person making the assessment than about the reality of what is assessed.

Are you talking Rugby League here or any sport, as of course the North West is home to one of the biggest Football clubs in the world and certainly possibly and arguably the wealthiest club in the Premiership.....but hey they must struggle for sponsors in your world too.

The two parts of your comment are surely not connected whether or not I agree with your point part of the sport's problem nationally might be more to do with the narrowness of its geographical appeal rather than the north being great or not?

Admittedly, when attracting investment through sponsorship this narrowness may also be 'aided' by a perceived lack of ABC1 types watching the sport you've only got to reflect on the money involved in the America Cup on the limited appeal of super yachting to be convinced that money talks

Maybe this and you tarring the whole of the north rather than singling out anywhere in particular convinces you that you aren't being outrageous but I will stick with my original response that this is a bad point not well made

You are John Inverdale and I claim my £5 pounds..

Is there a paucity of success in cycling, wrestling, boxing, squash, all of which have centres of excellence in the North West ?
All of which have had major investment. So money is
spent on sport in T'North and the north is successful in many sports.
Not only is your comment bigotry, it's imbecilic.

Are the followers of those sports you mention confined to the North of England??... (That's a serious question, as you sound like you may have knowledge of those sports, though as far as I know, Boxing is as popular in London and Glasgow as it is in Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield?)

The problem RL has is that our keenest followers ARE confined to the north of England - Its a very restricted market to sell to a potential sponsor.... Compare to Rugby Union, a national sport, which is inferior in quality but miles ahead in terms of marketing and sponsorship.

That has to be correct.

Now we have Hemmings rightly going on about our great game and,in the same breath,mocking the new money that's coming in because the Doctor chooses to do things his own way to shake a bit of life ,and PR, into it.

You started off by saying Salford has a bad image and the club should change its name to Manchester.

Then you say any club whose supporters are from the North won't get sponsorship.

How's changing the name to Manchester going to help then?

Firstly, the conversation started about the possibility of your owner snapping up various sports club all around the Manchester area - I offered the opinion (admittedly in a unsubtle way) that if he was planning some sporting superbrand, then the name Manchester would be easier to sell to possible sponsors, than Salford.

I've then offered the opinion that the main problem our sport has in marketing itself nationally, is that it is almost unique in being a sport based in a very narrow strip of the country.... Asking people outside of the north of England, to take an interest in something that culturally has nothing to do with them is always going to be a big ask - I don't know of any other major sport in this country that has this problem?

Whether we disagree with it, or not, the north of England DOES have a certain image to those outside of the area, and RL is ingrained in that image..... From a positive point of view, the more Marwan Koukash's and Simon Moran's that the sport can attract, the better, in terms of trying to pull out of that shadow, but I really feel its always going to be an uphill struggle on that score.