Former United Duo Complete Salford Ownership Restructure | OneFootball

It's all change at Salford City

Football has often been the plaything of the rich and famous, and that is certainly true in the modern game when you think of the likes of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's recent Wrexham journey, but the Hollywood duo were not the first, and nor will they be the last, as Salford City's own remarkable journey through the English pyramid is back in the news this week as the League Two club are now under almost new ownership.

As fans in the wider world of football will know, the club was taken over by members of the lovingly known Manchester United 'Class of 92' back in 2014, but following recent changes Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville are no longer shareholders in the business, but they will however remain involved in roles 'across technical, football, commercial, recruitment and the SCFC foundation'.

For those fans who like a flutter they will certainly be paying attention to Salford's future odds and seeing what kind of bounce the bookies now give them on betting sites Ireland and in other markets purely on the back of David Beckham and Gary Neville now taking on bigger roles in the club.

Beckham made his own investment back in 2019 alongside billionaire Peter Lim, and Neville had bought out Valencia owner Lim last summer to enable these future ownership changes to take place. The former England duo are joined by India based Dream Sports Group, Colin Ryan, Frank Ryan, Nick Woodhouse, Shravin Mittal, former banker Lord Mervyn Davies and fellow businessman Declan Kelly.

It is a timely change as Salford City look to push forward further in their development, and the new ownership group will be looking to build on the four promotions they attained in five years to reach League Two back in 2019. Having now hit a ceiling, albeit they narrowly missed out on a Play Off run in 2024/25 and missed the top seven by a single point, they will now be looking forward to making the next step.

Fans of the Ammies will be pleased that the process has now come to a conclusion with plenty of time for plans and preparations to be made ahead of the coming 2025/26 campaign, as the prior owners did actually begin this process back in 2024.

In Neville's own statement after the deal was announced, the 50 year old confirmed that 'football would always be the priority' and that this was something that he should not even 'have to say'. He also confirmed that the long term aim of the new ownership group was 'sustainability' for the club, but that in order to achieve that 'success on the pitch (was) critical' as was the need to invest and improve the facilities, the stadium and the training ground.

Ultimately, he knew that sustainability would only come through success, allied to revenue, commercial and sponsorship growth, and energising and growing the existing fan base.

With marked improvement in 2024/25 under manager Karl Robinson following their lowest ever (20th) league finish since gaining promotion the previous term, the new owners will be hoping that this is the benchmark for further success in the years to come as they hopefully attain their dream of promotion into League One.