David Beckham Joins Class of ‘92 in Buying Into Salford City

The National League side Salford City now counts David Beckham as the latest owner among its Class of ‘92 members.

Class of ’92 looking to bring ‘glory’ to Salford City

David Beckham has purchased a 10% stake in Salford City that competes in the National League (5th-6th level on the English football pyramid), according to online sportsbook news in the UK.

By doing so he has joined former Man United teammates Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt (all of the aforementioned players collectively are dubbed the Class of ‘92) as partial owners of the club.

With each member of the Class of ’92 owning 10% of the club, they, as a group, are the largest shareholders of the club, while popular Singaporean businessman Peter Lim (also the owner of La Liga side Valencia) holds the remaining 40% to his name.

“It is a proud moment for me to join Peter and the Class of 92 lads as an owner of Salford City,” said the 43-year-old. “It’s a really special club and a special group of people. My early years in Manchester were all spent in Salford. I grew up there in many ways, so to be able to finally join the lads and the club today is a great feeling.”

“Salford City has achieved so much success in a short space of time, the fans are incredible and I am really excited to be spending more time in Salford again.”

From non-league to the Championship within 15 years

In 2014, it was announced that Lim had purchased 50% of the club while the rest of the ownership was under the Neville brothers, Giggs, Scholes and Butt. Giggs, who had just retired from football at the end of the 2013/14 season, said the consortium planned to have Salford City (a non-league club at the time) competing in the Championship within 15 years. To their credit (and their financial backing), the club has managed to gain three promotions on the latter in only four years.

After 30 matches in the National League so far this campaign, Salford City are 3rd in the standings with 56 points, only a point behind leaders Leyton Orient and Solihull Moors, per, online sportsbooks in UK. The club hope the addition of Beckham to the owners’ list will help bring in extra funds – along with Lim’s large financial commitments – as they push to gain promotion to League Two.

Beckham’s second club

This is not the first club that Beckham has under his belt; he already has an MLS franchise that was formed in January 2018. When he had transferred to LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in the summer of 2007, Beckham’s contract included a clause that stipulated he could start his own club franchise, following his retirement, which happened in 2013.

Nearly 12 months ago, Beckham, along with a number of other partners, founded Inter Miami, which is set to enter the MLS starting from the 2020 season. But unlike the US club – which could be viewed as a more financial investment move – Salford City might hold a more sentimental value, considering it’s much closer to home for the former England legend.