David Beckham and Gary Neville have completed their takeover of Salford City.
The former Manchester United stars were already part-owners of the League Two side along with a number of their ex-team-mates and stars of the ‘Class of 92’.
However, it was confirmed on Thursday, that Neville and Beckham – as part of a fresh consortium – have bought out other shareholders after raising $15-20million to invest.
Taking to Instagram to share the news, Beckham wrote: ‘Salford played such an important role in my life growing up… it’s where I trained with United alongside my best mates every day, it’s where I bought my first house and where me and Victoria lived.
‘I’m so proud to be part of a new ownership group alongside my mate @gneville2 as we begin the next chapter of Salford’s journey. Football is at the heart of this community and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Ammies’
Former United stars Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes are no longer shareholders at the club but will take on various different roles at the club.
David Beckham and Gary Neville have completed their takeover of Salford City
The Class of 92 bought Salford back in 2014 (Pictured: Sir Alex Ferguson, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Gary Neville, brother Phil Neville, Paul Scholes)
The club currently sit 8th in League Two after stagnating over recent seasons
Speaking to the outlet, Beckham said: ‘I will be over every big decision that’s made and every little decision that’s made.
‘That’s what my commitment is to Gary. It’s what my commitment is to the club.’
‘We’re definitely not doing it for a laugh and it’s also not for the romantic side of things,’ Beckham continued. ‘Yes, we care about the club — but we’re doing it to win. We want Salford to be successful and we have had success, but then we want it to go on to the next level.
‘I always dream big so I’m always going to want us to get to the pinnacle of football and be in the Premier League. But there’s a lot of hard work and a lot of investment to be done up until that point.
‘The Championship is a league that we want to get in but it’s step by step. We want success very quickly but these things take time.
‘There’s a reason why we’re not going to be going up this year. So what is that reason? How do we solve it? And what do we need to put around the team, the manager and the club to ensure we have that success?
‘But if we can do that, fast forward it and be up in the Championship, that’s what the dream would be.’
Beckham and Neville have teamed up with Declan Kelly, founder of U.S.-based advisory firm Consello, and Lord Mervyn Davies, chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association, to move forward with the takeover.
The Class of ’92 entered this world with great confidence when they bought Salford City in 2014 and took the club from the Northern Premier League North to League Two – a climb of four divisions – in five years.
When they reached League Two, Paul Scholes baldly stated the ambition. ‘I know it’s a long way off, but the target has to be getting to the Premier League at some point.’
Salford City have been stuck League Two for the past five seasons since climbing four divisions in the first four years under their new owners
The club have been in the same division ever since and, to put it mildly, are struggling in a way Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs would not have imagined when first hatching this plan on a train in 2012, at a time when Giggs was contemplating retirement.
It looked rosy for a while, with six millionaires – the Neville brothers, Scholes, David Beckham and Nicky Butt – and a billionaire, Singaporean tycoon Peter Lim, the project’s bankroller-in-chief who kept propelling things along.
But, piece by piece, the landscape has changed, as Mail Sport revealed in October. The club had been seeking new investment and seemed to need it badly.
After Lim’s departure in 2024, Beckham and Neville had been seeking investment opportunities.
More to follow…
