David Beckham shares Salford City ambition as Man Utd legend joins Gary Neville in new takeover deal

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Manchester United legends Gary Neville and David Beckham have joined forces to complete a takeover of Salford City.

The ownership of Manchester United has been a hot topic over the years, with the Glazers and Ineos both coming in for huge criticism.

United have fallen well behind the competition both on and off the pitch, leaving Sir Jim Ratcliffe with a huge job on his hands.

United’s journey back to the top will be a long and potentially painful one, with major investment required over the coming years.

Ineos have made huge redundancies with cost-cutting measures viewed as a way to take the club forward.

Former United stars Gary Neville and David Beckham will be watching from afar, but will now have their own football ownership to focus on.

• READ MORE: Who is Gary Neville? Step into the world of the Manchester United legend turned top-tier pundit

Gary Neville and David Beckham complete Salford City takeover

Back in 2014, Salford City were taken over by Peter Lim and United’s ‘Class of 92’.

Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt all took 10% each, with Singaporean businessman Lim taking the rest.

Beckham then bought 10% from Lim in 2019, with Neville purchasing Lim’s remaining stake in 2024.

Salford raced through the leagues in the early days of the project, winning four promotions in five seasons between 2014-15 and 2018-19.

Since promotion to League Two in 2019, Salford have struggled to kick on again and there are new ownership changes incoming.

As reported by The Athletic, Neville and Beckham have completed a takeover of Salford alongside a ‘fresh consortium’.

Neville and Beckham – alongside other investors – have now bought up the stakes from Butt, Giggs, Scholes and Phil Neville.

Those former United stars will still have roles at Salford, but this takeover brings in a new era at Salford, with lofty ambitions in mind.

It’s suggested that this investment group have ‘raised around $15-20million’ to take Salford forward, with the aim to win promotion to the Championship.

• READ MORE: David Beckham shares ‘very special’ moment in Man Utd career and talks up one of his idols

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
13	WolvesWolves	35	12	5	18	51	62	-11	41
14	EvertonEverton	35	8	15	12	36	43	-7	39
15	Man UtdManchester United	35	10	9	16	42	51	-9	39
16	TottenhamTottenham	35	11	5	19	63	57	6	38
17	West HamWest Ham	35	9	10	16	40	59	-19	37

David Beckham on Salford takeover

United legend Beckham has told The Athletic that he will be heavily involved in every single decision at Salford – no matter how big or small.

Beckham added that this isn’t a joke for him and Neville; they really want to win and take Salford forward.

Beckham wants to reach the Championship but accepts that achieving two promotions will take some time.

“I will be over every big decision that’s made and every little decision that’s made,” said Beckham. “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.

“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,” he added.

United fans have enough to worry about with the club’s fortunes right now but may keep an eye on how Neville and Beckham fare in their new project at Salford.