Today at 5pm the Preston based national football museum closed at the historic Deepdale football stadium. The displays will next be presented in Manchester in 2011 in the modern Urbis building with the ski-run roof.
The trustees said there is still an opportunity for Preston to have a second NFM. Perhaps, and perhaps a platitude, not burning all your bridges or let’s leave safely, then whisper insults and blow raspberries when we’re out.
After the raspberry, here are the sour grapes. This move isn’t a sure fire winner. It’s very expensive. Urbis wasn’t a popular success despite plenty of advertising and it will be interesting to learn if the nearby new Peoples History Museum is a success. We’ve walked past a few times and never seen anyone going in. Manchester has one of the best science and industry museums in the country and it has the Imperial War Museum North. There are some good art galleries as well. Fitting in other lesser museums isn’t easy, so to date we’ve not fitted in the Peoples History Museum even though we park next door. Maybe it’s a different audience.
Hard not to want it to be a success in reality though.