Gary Neville and David Beckham have made it clear they will not be following in the footsteps of Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney after completing their Salford City takeover
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PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 6: David Beckham, Gary Neville attend the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Real Madrid at Parc des Princes stadium on March 6, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Gary Neville and David Beckham have vowed to take a different approach to Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham
(Image: Getty Images)
Gary Neville has conceded that his and David Beckham's strategy as owners of Salford City will differ from the big-spending approach of Wrexham's Ryan Reynolds.
The legendary Manchester United defender-turned-analyst completed a takeover of the League Two side earlier in May alongside Beckham. This was part of a new consortium that includes banker and LTA chair Lord Mervyn Davies and businessman Declan Kelly. Neville, along with other Class of '92 legends Paul Scholes, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt, joined the club in 2014 and held stakes. They were later joined by Beckham and billionaire Peter Lim in 2019.
However, following Lim's departure last summer, a new ownership group has bought all but Neville and Beckham out. Despite this, the collective of other ex-Red Devils will still be involved with the club "across technical, football, commercial, recruitment and the SCFC foundation."
Not long ago, Wrexham were competing against the Ammies in the fourth division after their rapid rise under the guidance of Hollywood star Reynolds and fellow actor Rob McElhenney. Now, they find themselves Championship-bound. This infamous rise came after a significant cash injection from their owners, who took over in 2021. However, Neville has not pledged such ambition or financial backing when it comes to his venture.
"Me and Becks [David Beckham] decided that we would put money in for the next four or five years, which is a commitment we've all made. There's been quite a lot of money been promised over the next four years," confessed Neville, on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.
"[But] we won't change the budget, and to reverse out of the model we already have, you need two or three years. You can't just go from investing to becoming sustainable – you've got players' contracts for three years, and you've generally got a model that you've built which you can't get away from.
Paul Scholes, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Gary Neville attend the premiere of "The Class Of 92" at Odeon West End. (Photo by rune hellestad/Corbis via Getty Images)
The other 'Class of 92' members have been bought out
"I think it's very different from Wrexham and Birmingham, where you're talking about hundreds of millions going into those clubs, particularly Birmingham. That's not what we're looking to do with Salford."
Both Reynolds and McElhenney finalised their takeover of the then-National League side for a mere £2million four years ago. However, this investment has since escalated as the ambitious duo aimed to elevate their club through the English football pyramid, and they succeeded, reports the Mirror.
They were promoted to League Two in 2023 and League One in 2024, and now, in 2025, they'll feature in the Championship after finishing second in an automatic promotion place behind Birmingham City.
The Blues have also made waves with fresh investment from keen North American buyers. Finance heavy-hitter Tom Wagner, a founding partner at Knighthead Capital Management, spearheaded the 2023 acquisition for the US-based Shelby Companies Limited and has since taken the reins as chairman, with NFL legend Tom Brady featuring as a co-owner.
McElhenney and Reynolds
McElhenney and Reynolds have guided Wrexham to the Championship
In 2024, Birmingham shattered numerous transfer records during the summer, including the eye-watering £15m capture of Fulham forward Jay Stansfield, which eclipsed the previous League One record by an imposing £12m margin. Neville and Beckham's Salford, however, won't follow a similar high-spending path.
"We want it to be a good football project," continued Neville. "The money we spent on our football club, we could have easily bought a League One club. The reason we didn't is that we wanted to build a football club from scratch. We had 100 fans at the time, Salford.
"Every fan that comes to Salford we respect enormously, but they're there because of the things that actually we've done in the last 10 years, which is a great position as owners to be in.
"We can't be accused of lacking spirit or fight or not putting money where our mouth is. We can never be accused of that sulphur because we didn't. We haven't got 10,000 fans that have been there for a long time that have an opinion that's based on the history."