-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited
In the earlier years of the Class of 92’s Salford City project, the Ammies were often branded as the ‘Manchester City of non-league football’.
That particular moniker came from the perceived wealth that the club possessed and their ability to bring in the best players at the level and the one above, dominating their league rivals over a sustained period of time.
Having been acquired in 2014 by Project 92 Limited, a firm run by Manchester United heroes Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, and backed by funding from Singaporean billionaire and Valencia owner Peter Lim, the club secured three promotions in four years to rise from the Northern Premier League Division One to the National League.
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In 2019, aided by the goals of major signing from Aberdeen, Adam Rooney, the Ammies broke into the EFL and reached the promised land of League Two.
But the plans to kick on from their and follow their dream of Championship football have fallen on tough times, with Salford currently sitting 20th in the division, with significant losses, and on the hunt for external investment.
Today they travel to the Etihad Stadium for an FA Cup third round clash with Manchester City, a game that pits the two sides together for the first time ever competitively. The strong Manchester United connection has added spice and intrigue to the clash, but given the star power that Salford have been able to lean on, even bringing on board David Beckham, and the significant sum of money that has been pumped in to the football club to reach this point, a game against postmen, electricians and school teachers it is not, those days have long since passed for Salford.
Lim, the embattled owner of Spanish La Liga giants Valencia, stepped away from the Salford project in August of last year, while Gary Neville relinquished his role as chief executive in 2022, handing over to Butt, who has since stepped away himself to focus on carving out a coaching career.
According to the Mail, the Ammies have been losing between £80,000 and £100,000 per week and losses over the 10-year period of Project 92 ownership have reached some £23m.
Lim loaned the club around £21m over the course of his involvement, although there is the possibility that those loans will be written off.
The club under the ownership of the Class of 92 has undergone radical change, some things that could be mirrored with what has happened at Manchester City with the City Football Group. There has been a focus on investing heavily in infrastructure, with a new stadium having been built and a move to the professional ranks arriving some years ago. The club also took up residence at the Salford-based Littleton Road training campus, owned by Manchester United.
Having had a billionaire as part of the ownership and still having a number of high profile millionaires that have significant profile and pull, Salford were able, up to a point, to leverage that on their way through the leagues.
But while the journey has slowed for them, the likes of Wrexham, through their Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have been able to make the most of star power, with the Disney documentary series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ having given them global exposure and put the club in a position to challenge for Championship football next season, with the Welsh side having been one of those whose budgets were dwarfed by Salford during the club’s National League years.
When Project 92 arrived at Salford they too saw the value in creating content to raise the profile of the football club, with cameras given access to the club’s early journey under their famous owners via the ‘Class of 92: Out of Their League’ documentary that aired on the BBC and Sky TV for two seasons.
The Salford buzz has diminished in recent seasons as the reality of EFL struggle became apparent, but this weekend offers them the chance to be front and centre of the nation’s football focus once again, and United’s former heroes will be hoping it acts as a catalyst for their journey to reignite.