THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

it's interesting reading their forum that there seems to be a wideley held view (if a forum that's so quiet can be a barometer of things) that the money is going to dry up soon and that Lim and the Co92 aren't going to be willing to sustain the losses for much longer and an inevitable slip out of the FL will follow and the gradual withdrawal from all the backers.

It seems they've (the backers) realised there really is a ceiling to what they can realisitcally achieve at Salford, and for a project, that much like the Wrexham one, does actually rely on big sponsors to make the losses even feasible then it could well be the case that those sort of backers that they would have been courting five years ago (TikTok - yeah, barely a thing back then but you get my drift, United Airlines, Hewlett packard et al) would be looking for a bit more "bang for their buck" rather than the "limited" parochial publicity the Co92 gives* in today's market. As it is, they have Salford Van Hire (well, as the city's most famous company, they couldn't not really, could they?) and Salboy, a local property deveolper.

They had barely sixty people watching them when they started. If they slide back with a "core" of 500 >1,000 still prepared to pay in Nationla League North then that's got to be a "success" hasn't if you were one of those sixty or so? Less, so if you've staked a lot of money on it.

*-yeah, Beckham, I know..., but his focus is on his own team in Miami.

I remember reading interviews with one or two of the Class of 92 in the last couple of years. They were saying how they'd overspent in the first few years in their eagerness to reach the EFL as quickly as possible for the first ever time. But, then, having done so, they'd taken stock and realised that wasn't the long term way they wanted to run a club having been 'raised and schooled' (in Footballing ways) by Fergie. So they've been cutting back and trying to run things more sustainably for a while now. Though the cliche that they're 'big spenders' remains (despite a squad full of frees and loans that most people have probably never heard of!)

As you suggest, running things sustainably at Salford will make success very tricky - given their limited income in terms of fans, sponsorship, etc. Whereas it's currently easier for Wrexham to cut back a bit and still spend 'big' for league 1 and 2 given their average attendance and large scale publicity and sponsorship.

I can certainly see why the owners would lose interest. High profile but mostly local owners who were also former (mostly England) international players, could so easily have been reported in the same positive way as the likes of Wigan, Blackburn, Reading, Wrexham, etc. And selling 'the fairy tale' of it all. Instead, probably due to the general dislike of Man United and, therefore, the Class of 92, it's been generally portrayed quite negatively with very little of the 'romance' or 'fairy tale' element that often comes with this sort of thing when a small club's risen from such a lowly starting place.

Ive thought from the beginning that when the rise stopped and the 'press' became less interested, that the Salford benefactors would lose interest and ultimately the desire to service a significant yearly shortfall. Its a model that works well when the trajectory is upwards and theres a story to tell but not so much so when the situation becomes static or in reverse.

I suspect that the same will happen with Wrexham in the end. They are going well at the moment but will hit plateau sooner or later.

Tend to agree, although I think Wrexham's plateau is in the Championship. Salford probably won't get out of L2.

I said a few years ago that Salford's ceiling is L2 - and it'll get old quick. Had nothing to back it up other than a gut feeling. I know Greater Manchester is a huge region, but there will be people from Salford who support almost every team in the North East area and I can imagine it'll take a bit of difficulty to attract new fans. Especially when most of them are doing relatively well in comparison.

Wrexham on the other hand, I think will be here (as in the EFL) for good (IE a long long time) and even if Hollywood sell, they'll have buyers and I reckon the Hoplywood pair would take honorary presidency or whatever, and always offer help when they can. Elton John at Watford, almost.
I'm not doubting they care - but at Salford, we've seen Scholes become a manager of another club not too far away whilst he's been an owner at Salford. We've seen both Neville's do the same whilst also doing punditry (also Scholes). Beckham do the Miami thing, Lim having g all the srama at Valencia...

Of course every business has various ventures so it's not out of the norm, I just winder how exciting it still is when they've made their goal already - documentary has been done, spotlight has gone, target reached... etc.

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GEORGE BALDOCK




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