|
|
Post by lostinspace on Jan 8, 2020 20:28:33 GMT
|
|
irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372 
|
Post by irishrover on Jan 16, 2020 12:07:08 GMT
For al the PR they will go as far as Lim is prepared to take them and his interest is largely connected to massive property deals in Manchester City Centre. It has very little to do with football.
|
|
warehamgas
Predictions League
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,590
|
Post by warehamgas on Feb 6, 2020 21:01:39 GMT
Just caught up with this.
So what is the plan for the next few months for Salford. With Lim putting more money in is the real objective growing Salford as a League 1/ Championship team or is it more linked to his intentions in business in the Manchester area, as you’ve implied? Despite their success over the past 4/5 years their crowds aren’t great, around 3000. Do they sell out? Would it be worth building yet another new ground when they don’t get big crowds that would warrant building anything more than 10000. Over the past 20 years Accrington, Morecambe, Macclesfield twice, have joined the EFL from non league and none of them have big crowds and all seem to be hovering on the edge of financial problems. Accrington have done the best of them and very good leadership and financial management have made them relatively stable but I doubt that investors are flocking to them. One of the reasons for the low crowds must be the number of clubs in the north west and having to compete with many much larger clubs higher up.
Which leads me back to how Salford and their owners are going to make money out of them. With Peter Lim I guess they don’t need to attract investors but the purpose of growing Salford seems very strange. Unless it is for football related reasons. I know that part of greater Manchester is a growing area. Its been an exciting 5 years for the fans they do attract and for their owners up until now, and they’ve had some gains that whilst not easy, with the resources they had, were fairly predictable to achieve. Now, have they reached their glass ceiling with progress from now on unlikely? It will be much harder obviously the higher they go.
Mind you from afar it’s been a great story. Made another “big name” signing today in Darren Gibson.
If they got to League 1 would their crowds get to 5000 capacity and would they be able to grow their fanbase?
UTG!
|
|
irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372
|
Post by irishrover on Feb 7, 2020 14:36:44 GMT
Just caught up with this. So what is the plan for the next few months for Salford. With Lim putting more money in is the real objective growing Salford as a League 1/ Championship team or is it more linked to his intentions in business in the Manchester area, as you’ve implied? Despite their success over the past 4/5 years their crowds aren’t great, around 3000. Do they sell out? Would it be worth building yet another new ground when they don’t get big crowds that would warrant building anything more than 10000. Over the past 20 years Accrington, Morecambe, Macclesfield twice, have joined the EFL from non league and none of them have big crowds and all seem to be hovering on the edge of financial problems. Accrington have done the best of them and very good leadership and financial management have made them relatively stable but I doubt that investors are flocking to them. One of the reasons for the low crowds must be the number of clubs in the north west and having to compete with many much larger clubs higher up. Which leads me back to how Salford and their owners are going to make money out of them. With Peter Lim I guess they don’t need to attract investors but the purpose of growing Salford seems very strange. Unless it is for football related reasons. I know that part of greater Manchester is a growing area. Its been an exciting 5 years for the fans they do attract and for their owners up until now, and they’ve had some gains that whilst not easy, with the resources they had, were fairly predictable to achieve. Now, have they reached their glass ceiling with progress from now on unlikely? It will be much harder obviously the higher they go. Mind you from afar it’s been a great story. Made another “big name” signing today in Darren Gibson. If they got to League 1 would their crowds get to 5000 capacity and would they be able to grow their fanbase? UTG! Obviously this is one person's (not neccesarily that well informed) opinion but I think Salford probably are for real, at least for the next 4 or 5 years.
It is all to do with money invested in Manchester. Lim has fingers in a load of the property development deals that are going up across Manchester and Salford (and ripping the heart out of the place in my personal view), most of the 'class of 92' are tied up in those deals too, particularly Gary Neville. I don't think the Manchester development boom and its ugly sterile tower blocks are slowing down anytime soon so they all have an interest in keeping this thing going.
They have built a functional 6000 capacity ground which is twice the size they need for the crowds they get. But Bournemouth have shown that crowd numbers aren't the key determinant of footballing success anymore. I can't see them growing the fanbase that much. Given the mess United are currently in you'd think this would be the ideal opportunity to pick up disgrunted United fans but that doesn't seem to be happening (or at FC United). So I can't really see where the next jump in the fanbase would come from.
They did have a jump a few years ago from about 1000 to more like 1700-2500. That happened quite suddenly and I think it may have coincided with FC United running into some problems and a few fans switching allegiances to Salford. As a casual FC 'fan' it is noticeable to me that a few years ago FC were regularly getting attendances of 3000+. But ironically the move to atheir new permanent ground (which was always the dream) cost them a few fans because it's not the easiest place to get at, plus there was some serious splits about the direction of the club. FC was always a bit of a strange coalition of pissed off United fans, people who were attracted by the idea of 'living the dream' and going as far up as they could go, people who wanted to re-create the atmosphere they remembered from their youth, football hipsters and idealistic fan ownership people who want to 'do football differently'. There was a big power struggle a few years ago and basically the atmosphere/hipster/'doing football differently' groups won out over the 'living the dream/pissed of United fans' group. So I think some of them drifted off to Salford and FC's attendances are now in the 1000-1500 range most weeks (despite what they might claim).
So I think Salford will keep going. We probably won't how far they're prepared to go until they get to League 1. Because in modern football it's the gap betwen League 1 and the Championship that's the big cliff edge right? So if they're willing to spend to bridge that gap then we'll know the intention must be to go all the way. I don't think they will still be a nice quirky story by then though - if they start threatening the status of Championship clubs then I expect them to acquire an MK Dons type reputation quite quickly. They're already almost univerally disliked by the non-league world.
|
|
warehamgas
Predictions League
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,590
|
Post by warehamgas on Feb 7, 2020 16:10:42 GMT
Thanks irish for that. Yes I can see how they have become a northern version of MK Dons and how with the money they’ve got they have almost been handed success on a plate. Bound to jar others off. I don’t know but Accrington look to be a well run small club punching above their weight on very small gates. I’d say the same about Morecambe but haven’t they had absentee owners who’ve largely ignored them or has that been resolved?
Whatever, if Salford were to get to League 1 and make a serious assault on the Championship they have the finance and expertise on board to find, build and pay for a much larger ground. In a way I suppose Salford are protected by having such high profile owners insofar as the Nevilles and their friends won’t drop Salford in the **** because they are high profile and their reputations both nationally and locally would never recover if Salford went wrong. I say that because the team I see them as very similar to is Rushden and Diamonds FC from 20 years ago. Max Griggs walked away and in a year the downward spiral had started and now they are back to where they started with the AFC club in the Southern League. And the newly built Nene Park has already been knocked down. I don’t see that scenario happening at Salford but something will happen. Looks to be an intriguing time to come.
UTG!
|
|
irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372
|
Post by irishrover on Feb 7, 2020 16:29:16 GMT
Thanks irish for that. Yes I can see how they have become a northern version of MK Dons and how with the money they’ve got they have almost been handed success on a plate. Bound to jar others off. I don’t know but Accrington look to be a well run small club punching above their weight on very small gates. I’d say the same about Morecambe but haven’t they had absentee owners who’ve largely ignored them or has that been resolved? Whatever, if Salford were to get to League 1 and make a serious assault on the Championship they have the finance and expertise on board to find, build and pay for a much larger ground. In a way I suppose Salford are protected by having such high profile owners insofar as the Nevilles and their friends won’t drop Salford in the **** because they are high profile and their reputations both nationally and locally would never recover if Salford went wrong. I say that because the team I see them as very similar to is Rushden and Diamonds FC from 20 years ago. Max Griggs walked away and in a year the downward spiral had started and now they are back to where they started with the AFC club in the Southern League. And the newly built Nene Park has already been knocked down. I don’t see that scenario happening at Salford but something will happen. Looks to be an intriguing time to come. UTG! Yeah I'd say R and D are a good comparison for Salford - with the additional reputational stuff you mention.
Not sure what happened at Morecambe - they did have an absentee owner (Brazilian guy I think). Not sure if he's still around or they've moved on. But they've done very well just to survive in the league as long as they have. Accy the same - but you only have to go there to realise that there's a real community spirit/local pride in Accrington Stanley that does galvanise goodwill and support for the club in the town, which doesn't seem to exist in anything like the same way at Morecambe.
|
|
eppinggas
Administrator
Ian Alexander
Don't care
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 8,604
|
Post by eppinggas on Feb 7, 2020 19:52:51 GMT
Interesting read and thank you for giving me a break from the nauseating tedium of the Ken Masters thread. I don't get up t'north for football very often - my only planned trip is for Accrington / Gas in April. They're the sort of Club I don't mind parting with some cash for. Having watched Orient off and on in the National League for a couple of years, I can vouch for the fact that Salford are universally disliked...
|
|
