Former Man United midfielder Nicky Butt’s son Ruben scored twice on his first start for Salford City on Tuesday night.
After making a handful of appearances off the bench, 18-year-old Ruben was trusted from the off against Wolves Under-21s in the Vertu Trophy on a cold evening at the Peninsula Stadium.
The youngster well and truly took his chance, netting two impressive finishes as Salford eased to a 4-2 victory over the Black Country club.
His first, the game’s fourth goal, came on 77 minutes when he was fed the ball on the left-wing before cutting inside and rifling an effort into the far corner.
And it was only a couple of minutes later that Butt doubled his tally in the red of Salford. After latching onto a through ball, the No 34 dinked a delightful chip over the visiting goalkeeper into the back of the net.
Speaking to the club’s media after the match, Butt admitted he ‘couldn’t be happier’ with his dream start to life in professional football.
Nicky Butt’s son Ruben scored twice on Tuesday night on his full debut for Salford City
‘I should have scored at least one in the first-half, maybe two,’ he said.
‘So in the second half I thought, “going to have to score one here” – and I got two! So yeah, couldn’t be happier.’
Ruben’s father Nicky was Salford’s chief executive until this summer when he announced his decision to step down.
Butt, 50, spent three years at the helm after taking over from Gary Neville in 2022 but admitted he could no longer dedicate the time required to continue in the position.
The Manchester-born former England international is however still a part owner of Salford alongside Neville, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and indicated he wants to return as a coach in the future.
Announcing his decision to step back, Butt said: ‘Whilst I have enjoyed the day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive role and discovered a huge amount about the challenges an EFL club faces away from the football pitch, I have recently realised how much I miss the coaching and development of players, and this has increased my desire to get back into that side of the game.
‘Over the past few months there have been several exciting opportunities put forward to me that have put my focus back on coaching and on the grass.
‘That being said I have always wanted to put Salford first, and we now have experienced executives within the senior management team here which means that I can step away from my current duties without any impact on current operations and it will be very much business as usual.’
Nicky Butt left his role as chief executive of Salford after three years at the club in the summer
The Englishman made 387 appearances for Man United over 12 years with the first-team
Butt made 387 appearances for Man United over 12 years with the first-team after progressing through the Red Devils academy.
He later played for both Newcastle United and Birmingham City before moving to South China at the end of his career.
