55 replies to this topic

[Northern Sol]

I find it ironic that a Fulham, London RLFC, London Crusaders, Harlequins RL, London Broncos fan should start a thread of this nature.

I did wonder whether there was a certain degree of "toungue-in-cheek" about it.

If not I'd ask what all those different names ever did for Bronquins.

[HKR AWAY DAYS]

don'nt the manchester storm & giants own british record attendances for their respective sports while they existed in the last 1990's?

I think you're right. Manchester Storm attracted something like 16,000. Now they play in the English Premier League, which is the league below the Elite League where my team, Hull Stingrays play. But less of them, we were hammered 7-2 last night; the best £15 I ever spent ha!

[roughyedspud]

£15 just for you? or £15 for a family ticket or something?

[Bleep1673]

MK Dons / AFC Wimbledon spring to mind. They are almost in the same division these days.

And they play each other in the 2nd round of the FA Cup, that should be interesting, the chairman (I think) of MK Dons was quoted as saying if he had to do the move again, he wouldn't.

[Hornetto]

Salford is in Manchester like Leeds is in Bradford.

Buy a map.

Edited by Hornetto, 02 December 2012 - 05:15 PM.

[boro hornet]

I think you're right. Manchester Storm attracted something like 16,000. Now they play in the English Premier League, which is the league below the Elite League where my team, Hull Stingrays play. But less of them, we were hammered 7-2 last night; the best £15 I ever spent ha!

17,500 full house at Manchester arena v Sheffield Steelers both storm and the giants 'were owned by large american companies in the case of storm they where owned by the same company that managed the arena who pumped a lot of money into them until they no longer needed them to fill spare capacity at the arena now owened by a local buisness man who was a fan and playing at Altrincham

[gingerjon]

If only Aston Villa would change their name to Birmingham they'd be in Europe every year.

[R J Wagsmith]

I rather think Barcelona Red Devils would be a good idea and would certainly bring the crowds to Barton.
Just look how well the other Barcelona are doing.

[Viking Warrior]

Mergers, Rebranding and club relocations are not as bad and evil as certain Rugby League fans suggest and can actually go along way towards revitalising a sport in a specific area.
One of the main arguments that a fan of a said club will use not to Merge/Rebrand/Relocate is 'tradition', well history has proved that some of the top sporting clubs in England have done one of the three prior to becoming bigger sporting entities, examples.....

Newcastle United
Started as Stanley Football Club, Was renamed Newcastle East End, Merged with Rosewood FC of Byker, Merged with Newcastle West End their biggest North East rivals to then become Newcastle United.

Manchester United
Started as Newton Heath, playing in green and gold was taken over by a local consortium and then became Manchester United

Arsenal
Started as Dial Square playing in Woolwich, South London, was renamed Royal Arsenal and then Woolwich Arsenal. Afterwards moved to North London and finally became the Arsenal that we see now.

Liverpool FC
Was initially called Everton Athletic and then eventually Liverpool F.C.

Rugby League success story: Catalan Dragons
Born out of a merger between X111 Catalan and St.Esteve, two local rivals

My point.....that mergers, relocations and rebranding is a part of the history of british sport, the 4 biggest sporting enitities have each gone through this process and rugby league clubs shouldn't be afriad of this......
Now Salford area proud club with a proud tradition but they have been poorly managed and have missed out on the opportunity to maximise opportunities from the stadium move and now look like being overshadowed by Sale, what they need is for a new investor to come in spend money on the club and rename them Manchester Reds, they have great potential but a lack of vision is there....nothing wrong with a name change or two......from a London Broncos( Harlequins RL, Crusaders) supporter.

excuse me my friend, the club has been liverpool since day one!!!! everton were the original tenents of anfield but couldn't afford the rent so they were kicked out by higsons brewery who owned the ground and a new club formed, they tried to call the club everton but that name was already registered with the FA and so they called the club liverpool afc because the local rugby union club was called liverpool fc and when the moved to sthelens and became liverpool-sthelens, liverpool FC became the official name of the club................

[Lounge Room Lizard]

It takes more than a name change of name or a wad of cash for the fortunes of a club to improve. You basically need a complete overhaul of all your staff and how things are done. This cant just be done like that but takes much time, effort and money to do this. The changing/ rebranding of a name and logo will cost thousands alone. And even then there is no guarentee it will be a success especially if some of the old staff and management are involved. Salford Rugby League is a recognized name in the area but it has a negative feel about it due to the poor management over many years. Instead of a name change it needs getting rid of most of the management and replaced by people who are fresh and have some idea how to communicate with the fans and potential fans and sponsors. It needs a management that has a plan and sticks to it even if it means dropping out of SL to rebuild.

[Viking Warrior]

only once in the history of sport i can recall a name change and change of location being successful, and that is mk dons fc......

[The Daddy_merged]

excuse me my friend, the club has been liverpool since day one!!!! everton were the original tenents of anfield but couldn't afford the rent so they were kicked out by higsons brewery who owned the ground and a new club formed, they tried to call the club everton but that name was already registered with the FA and so they called the club liverpool afc because the local rugby union club was called liverpool fc and when the moved to sthelens and became liverpool-sthelens, liverpool FC became the official name of the club................

Mate, it's on Wikipedia.

[Gav Wilson]

only once in the history of sport i can recall a name change and change of location being successful, and that is mk dons fc......

Never heard of Newton Heath FC then...?

[Viking Warrior]

Mate, it's on Wikipedia.

my brother is the clubs historian, and wiki has been known to be wrong on more than one occasion......

[Viking Warrior]

Never heard of Newton Heath FC then...?

but newton heath didn't re-locate over 30 miles from their base. mk dons did.

[Gav Wilson]

but newton heath didn't re-locate over 30 miles from their base. mk dons did.

They still changed their name though.

Its happened rather successfully in the NFL too.

I'm not saying its great, but your initial statement was pretty daft.

[gingerjon]

only once in the history of sport i can recall a name change and change of location being successful, and that is mk dons fc......

Dial Square FC

[gingerjon]

They still changed their name though.

Its happened rather successfully in the NFL too.

I'm not saying its great, but your initial statement was pretty daft.

That little known baseball team the New York Yankees started off as Baltimore.

[The Daddy_merged]

And that other world renowned, successful sporting franchise the London Broncos started out as Fulham.

[Northern Sol]

That's all very well but could we perhaps think of succesful examples in 21st century England (or at least 90s England)?

MK Dons are they that much of a success?

The old Dons played in the Premier League. AFC Wimbledon are only one division below them.