David Beckham and Gary Neville Look to Emulate Wrexham Success

David Beckham and Gary Neville have completed the takeover of EFL League Two side Salford City with hopes of taking the club to the Premier League.

Beckham and Neville were already part-owners of Salford City, along with former Manchester United teammates, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. The Class of '92 initially acquired the club in 2014 and helped Salford City earn four promotions in five years. Ever since, though, the team has been stuck in League Two.

With the aim of one day getting Salford City to climb the English football pyramid in a similar fashion as Wrexham, Beckham and Neville teamed up with Declan Kelly, founder of U.S.-based advisory firm Consello, and Lord Mervyn Davies, chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association, to complete a takeover of the club. Butt, Giggs, Phil Neville and Scholes all relinquished their stakes.

The new ownership group, as well as other minority shareholders, are believed to have raised around $15-20 million to boost Salford City’s sporting and infrastructural ambitions, per The Athletic.

Beckham took to social media to share the news, along with his excitement of beginning Salford City's next chapter.

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"Salford played such an important role in my life growing up," Beckham wrote on Instagram. "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 [Gary Neville] 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."

In addition to his ties to the community, Beckham also spoke to The Athletic about Wrexham's influence on his decision to take over Salford City. Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took the oldest club in Wales from the National League to the EFL Championship in three consecutive promotions.

“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 said. “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.

“Tom Wagner and Tom Brady have done an incredible job with Birmingham. I went to a game a few months back and the atmosphere in the stadium was one of the best I’ve seen for a long time. That’s what we want to create. We want to create that community, add to the community and fan base we’ve already got—and then lift it."

Birmingham City joined Wrexham as the two League One teams to earn direct promotion to the Championship. Beckham and Neville are hoping to achieve similar success and ultimately have their sights set on reaching the English top-flight.

“We’re definitely not doing it for a laugh and it’s also not for the romantic side of things,” Beckham said. “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."

Salford City finished eighth in League Two this past season, just one point shy of securing a place in the League Two playoffs. With a new ownership group and increased funding, the club will be eyeing a better finish and even a promotion in its 2025–26 campaign.