David Beckham and Gary Neville will lead English fourth division club Salford City FC alongside an owner group comprising a total of nine parties. Other members of Manchester United’s Class of ’92, such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, will remain with the club in other roles.
AFC Wrexham is currently demonstrating how things can improve in England under new ownership. The club owned by Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds recently became the first team ever to celebrate three consecutive promotions in the English Football League. In 2021, the acting colleagues took over the club in the fifth division, and next year it will compete in the second-tier Championship.
Salford City FC would probably have no objection to such a path. The club from the north-west of England, which finished the past season in eighth place in the fourth division and missed the play-offs by one point, announced on May 8 that it had been taken over by a new group of owners. The group is led by former international players David Beckham and Gary Neville.
In 2014, the Class of ’92 took over
However, the situation in Salford is somewhat different, as Beckham and Neville are by no means new faces at the Ammies. In 2014, when Salford City was still playing in the eighth-tier Northern Premier League Division One, Project 92 Limited took over the club in Manchester’s neighboring town. It was a merger of players from Manchester United’s legendary Class of ’92, supported by businessman Peter Lim, who also owns Valencia CF, among other things. The team included Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, and the Neville brothers, Phil and Gary. In 2019, Beckham, who grew up in Salford, joined the team.
League eight to league four in five years
Under the Class of ’92, the goal was set to reach the second-tier Championship in 15 years, i.e. by 2029. Despite protests from fans, the club colors were changed from the familiar “tangerine and black” to red, white, and black, while things were looking up on the pitch. In just five seasons, Salford City celebrated four promotions and achieved its first interim goal in 2019/20: the jump from non-league football to EFL League Two, England’s fourth division.
However, the Ammies have not progressed any further so far. After finishing 11th, 8th, and 10th, they qualified for the play-offs in 2022/23 by finishing seventh. However, their run came to an end in the semi-finals, followed by a season to forget in 2023/24, which they finished 20th out of 24.
Investment of £15 to £20 million
After missing out on the playoffs again, the club is now realigning itself. According to The Athletic, a group of nine shareholders has acquired a total of 80 percent of the club and raised £15 million to £20 million (approximately €17.5 million to €23.5 million) to develop the club both on and off the pitch over the next five years and lead it back to the Championship. The remaining 20 percent is earmarked for additional partners. In addition to Beckham and Neville, the group includes US businessman Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies, who was chairman of the British Tennis Association until the summer and will serve as co-chairmen in the future.
The rest of the Class of ’92 will step down as owners but remain with the club. Butt, Giggs, Scholes, who even took over as interim coach for a short time in 2020, and Phil Neville “will continue to contribute to the next step of this journey by taking on roles within the club in technical or sporting areas, marketing, recruitment or the SCFC Foundation,” according to a statement from Salford City.
Gary Neville, who remains co-owner, emphasized that football will come first for the new ownership group. “But it is crucial that we lead the club towards sustainability over the next four to five years.” The ownership group is “a unique partnership with a wealth of minds and expertise, held together by a love of football.”
Beckham, who is already an investor in Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, looked back on his own past in Salford. “I have fond memories of my time there, and the place and its people played an important role in my early footballing life.” Now he wants to lead “the heart of the community” where he once grew up into its next chapter.
