Cradley were always known as the Heathens except for a brief spell in the 1970s when they adopted the "United" team name. The Heathens early years in the BL weren't exactly strewn with success,  with their best league finish was seventh out of nineteen teams in 1969, while most other years saw them in the bottom half, often the lower  bottom half, of the league. 

Did the promotion hope that a name change would bring a change of fortune? if so they must have been disappointed. in 1973, their first United season, they were stone last. Things weren't much better in the following years, although they did manage to scrape into the top half in 1976  when ninth of nineteen. 

They reverted to Heathens in 1977 , the start of the McCormick revolution which heralded a golden era at Dudley Wood. 

While changing your traditional team name when reopening after a dormant spell is  understandable, showing that a new regime is in place, changing your nickname at other times rarely seems to have led to a change in fortunes. 

Bradford had quite a selection of names during their storied existence but when Nelson moved there in the middle of the 1970 they chose to adopt the rugby club "Northern" and enjoyed some early success then. A change of promotion brought a name change to "Barons" but things fell away and 1975 ended with the sad news that there would be no racing the following year. 

Long Eaton lost their speedway when the Archers licence moved to Leicester in 1968 but the sport returned in 1969 when the "Rangers" rode in BL2. A name change back to the traditional "Archers" didn't improve the club's fortunes in 1974, indeed quite the opposite as the didn't come back to the tapes for 1975.

Sunderland were another to change their name in 1974 with the "Stars" mutating into the "Gladiators" who looked like they were going to perish in the arena in  mid season before the Taylors of Berwick stepped in to ensure they saw hem complete their fixtures.

Scunthorpe Saints had eight years of toil at Quibell Park where their track had to be laid on top of an athletics circuit each week. However their move to their new home at Ashby Ville in 1979 and their name change to "Stags" saw little ultimate betterment in the teams standings  Things got off to a traumatiic start - after just three meetings, the SCB revoked their licence until a number of improvements were made.  It was summer before these were passed and a number of double headers were required to complete their fixtures, with the team finsihing bottom, some ten points behind second bottom Weymouth.

Newcastle's single year as the "Federation Specials" in 1986 is another new name that bombed. The following year saw Glasgow decamp to Workington after running into planning problems over their proposed move to Roseberry Park. The move was fraught with many difficulties and a mid season name change to "Workington" really didnt improve things. The Tigers had won just three of seventeen meetings as "Glasgow" but failed to win a meeting as "Workington" in six attempts before they were expelled from the league. 

Later examples this century  include the "Silver Machine" of Kings Lynn and Oxford and the Reading Bulldogs who flattered to deceive in 2006 before having a desperate time the following year, their last in the top flight.  

In summary it rarely proved a good idea to change your long established team name. "caveat actorum!" - promoters beware!