Football League World
·25 May 2025
How David Beckham reacted to big Salford City takeover news involving Gary Neville

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Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·25 May 2025
FLW takes a look back at what David Beckham said upon completing his takeover of Salford City alongside Gary Neville.
Salford City marked a new chapter in the club's history in May 2025, as a David Beckham and Gary Neville-led consortium completed a full takeover of the Ammies.
It was announced on 8 May that the two Manchester United and England legends had fronted a consortium that had bought out the rest of the Class of '92's involvement in the club.
Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville all relinquished their shares in Salford, but it was confirmed that all four of them would remain involved with the club "across technical, football, commercial, recruitment and the SCFC foundation."
As such, it would appear that many exciting days may well be ahead for the Ammies, in what is a clear statement of intent and ambition to get the football club moving up the EFL pyramid, having been residing in League Two since 2019.
Posting to his Instagram account on 8 May, Beckham penned a heartfelt tribute to Salford, both the club and the area as a whole, and revealed his excitement about helping to lead the club into a new era alongside Neville.
He said: "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 (Neville's Instagram handle) 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 ❤️."
As well as the obvious financial backing Beckham and Neville alongside their consortium of business people will be able to bring to Salford City, the 50-year-old also has experience of football club ownership across the pond.
Beckham is the co-owner of MLS side Inter Miami, an expansion team that played its first MLS game back in the 2020 season.
Since the club's birth, they have made the play-offs on a handful of occasions, signed legends of the game such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, and have posted a reported net worth of $1.2billion - as per Forbes' most valuable MLS teams in 2025 list.
Now, whilst Salford won't attract some of the game's biggest names to the Peninsula Stadium in League Two, having Beckham and Neville as owners will surely prove to be a highly effective recruitment tool, as players will no doubt be attracted by the prospect of playing for a club under those two.
We've seen this with Wrexham's Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, as their hands-on approach has undoubtedly contributed to players wanting to play for and work under them.
“I will be over every big decision that’s made and every little decision that’s made,” Beckham told The Athletic during a recent interview. “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. 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.
“We’ve all been inspired by what Ryan Reynolds has been doing at Wrexham, and I’m not saying this is why we’re doing it because it’s not,” Beckham continued.
“But I’ve spoken to Ryan about it so many times now, and he said the feeling around the city, the feeling around the club, is so exceptional. That’s the kind of thing that we want to create."
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