Sale can cash in

Brian Kennedy has spent £3million on players and three times as much transporting his Sale team eight miles across Greater Manchester into their new home.

Now the whole shooting match has moved from their rustic old Heywood Road into the comparative splendour of Stockport County's Edgeley Park, or, as their owner puts it 'from Toytown to the professional arena', he is demanding a silver return on his investment.

The multi-millionaire Scot expects it, not next season or the season after, but now.

'We have to win something this season,' he said. 'We've done very well so far but we are now in a position to ask the coaches and the players to harden up their attitude. There is a fine line between doing well and winning trophies, and that is the line we have to cross this season.'

The 42-year-old will board his private jet in Majorca tomorrow for the two-hour flight to Manchester. He expects to see his team make a winning start as they open the Zurich Premiership season in their new surroundings against Northampton, a reminder that there will be life after the World Cup.

He has every justification for believing that Sale can change the landscape of the English game and take the title north. Sale established themselves in the top two last season only to fade. They have remedied the lack of blockbusting forward power to complement the creative back division by making two of the best signings of the summer - Scotland lock Jason White and the mountainous ex-Bristol prop Andrew Sheridan.

World Cup demands let them off lightly compared to all their principal rivals, and, while there is no questioning Kennedy's patriotism, he is also a hard-headed businessman who will not be too upset if Scotland make an early exit, causing the swift return of White and Bryan Redpath.

The last reason is the most important. When it comes to coaching and management savvy, Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond are as smart as any, which is just as well because Kennedy expects them to deliver.