They are well run and ambitious, and people will be seduced by the success that they're having, but that's not the same as coming across well. If I remember correctly, they came in and they immediately changed the colour of the strip and changed the badge. There's no need for behaviour like that. They also didn't appear to consider what the fans wanted to happen to their club. A lot of those fans were happy with their little non-league club. I think all of that contrasts quite starkly with, for example, the way Stewart Donald has conducted himself. They appeared to me to think that they were bigger than little Salford. Like they had come down from the gleaming towers of Old Trafford to grant the serfs a little reflected glory. The Twitter spats that Gary Neville has got himself into since the Adam Rooney news haven't endeared him to me either. He just comes across as arrogant.
Came across very well to me personally. They're dragging a nothing club into the 21st century while keeping true to their roots and engaging long term community members in the build of something new and exciting. The majority of people will always be happy with the status quo but pioneers come along and change the way things are. The ex boozer builder, the dinner lady burger van attendant, the accountant CEO/chairwoman et al are keeping their involvement, they're just involved in something bigger and more modern. If Donald changed our badge and our strip I'm sure people would give them hell for it. Pretty sure those same people would pipe down sharpish when we're playing at an improved stadium, signing bigger players than ever before and competing with the world's best. Owner's own clubs. The fans don't actually have a say generally. If owners keep fans engaged and take clubs to new levels I think they should be praised personally. Those boys are far bigger than Salford City ever were and they're giving the town a future it deserves as a massive place with a cracking identity.
Football is about winning and success, but it's also about tradition, history, and identity. I don't think that any amount of success would make people accept changing the colour of our kits. At least I hope that it wouldn't because that would mean that we had sold our soul and that people were much shallower and venal than I would hope. It's this notion that Salford were a 'nothing' club and that these retired players are 'bigger' than the club that puts me off. How is it acceptable to change something that other people are emotionally invested in just because you have more money than them and are better known to the public than them? I realise that some people are impressed by money and fame, but I am not and I don't think that either of those things are justification for doing exactly as you please. I am much more impressed by humility, hard work, diligence, and respect. I am impressed by the progress that Salford City have made, but that progress could have been achieved in a way that was much less abrasive and much less about the egos of some former footballers. They've come in for criticism about the Rooney transfer as it's a conspicuous demonstration of wealth which many people find distasteful, especially in the context of non-league football transfers. As relative novices in the world of non-league football ownership, they should be keeping quiet and accepting that they've offended their peers - a show of deference and humility, but no, they're justifying themselves on Twitter which just highlights this 'I'm considerably richer than you (therefore I can do what I want)' attitude that they seem to have. Pipe down, Gary, especially if you believe in what you've done, and accept that you've upset people.
