David Prutton believes it could be a ‘new dawn’ at Salford City this summer, following the recent takeover of the club by a consortium headed up by Gary Neville and David Beckham.
Earlier this month, Salford announced that they had been acquired by a new ownership group that includes US-based businessman Declan Kelly as well as Lord Mervyn Davies, who will both serve as co-chairmen on the board. The consortium is led, though, by Gary Neville and David Beckham.
In 2014, the Ammies were taken over by Project 92 Limited, which was a group made up of former Manchester United players Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes, as well as Gary, and Singaporean businessman Peter Lim – who remains the owner of Valencia.
Beckham became involved in the club initially in 2019 when he purchased a 10% share from Lim before Neville acquired the rest of Lim’s stake in August 2024.
Now, as they prepare for the first summer transfer window of the new ownership at Moor Lane, Prutton believes Salford should look towards local side Stockport County, as well as Wrexham, for further inspiration.
Salford must improve on the pitch
Speaking exclusively to Football League World, EFL pundit David Prutton has compared Salford’s situation to that of Stockport and Wrexham, with added financial backing expected to be shown now in the north of Greater Manchester.
“It’s good in a PR sense, isn’t it? But it’s about tangible progress on the pitch. When you look at the likes of Stockport, and obviously Wrexham, and teams that have shown what can happen with decent financial backing, but they, in turn, have turned it into positivity and success on the pitch.
“That’s an example, because Salford City were the embryonic version of those clubs, coming from where they came from but obviously with a different history to the likes of Wrexham.”
Speaking about Beckham being in a more prominent role, Prutton said: “I’ll be intrigued to see how he goes about it and how involved he is on a day-to-day basis.
“It’ll be a stellar way to attract players, but it needs to be financially competitive and the pace at which Gary Neville attacks life has probably disappointed him with regards to where they find themselves in the pyramid, but it could be a new dawn.”
Salford’s stagnation
Salford City gained promotion from the eighth-tier of English football during the first season of the Project 92 reign as they won the 2014/15 Northern Premier League Division One North title.
They then gained promotion via the play-offs in their second season in the Northern Premier League and two seasons is how long it then took them to get out of the National League North before a further two seasons to get out of the National League.
| Salford’s League Two seasons | |
|---|---|
| Season | Position |
| 2019/20 | 11th |
| 2020/21 | 8th |
| 2021/22 | 10th |
| 2022/23 | 7th (PO SF) |
| 2023/24 | 20th |
| 2024/25 | 8th |
They have now, though, played six League Two seasons and will be in a seventh successive campaign in the fourth-tier as a result of an eighth-place finish this season, missing out on the top seven and the play-off places, under the management of Karl Robinson, on the final day of the campaign due to a 2-2 draw with already relegated Carlisle United at Brunton Park.
It has to be seen as frustrating stagnation for Salford as they have seen the likes of Stockport and Wrexham also rise from non-league. Stockport themselves also coming from the sixth-tier, to get to League One and, this season, Wrexham have been automatically promoted from League One, whilst Stockport are currently in the midst of a play-off tie against Leyton Orient.
There will be hope and actually an expectation that Beckham and Neville’s latest takeover can propel them to similar heights, especially given Beckham’s experience in the operations of a football club with his involvement at Major League Soccer outfit Inter Miami.
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