1 hour ago
8
David Beckham took time out of his busy schedule to watch Salford City take on Swindon in League Two action on Saturday afternoon.
The Manchester United legend is co-owner of the club alongside former team-mate Gary Neville, and recently revealed he helped save the club from a serious situation.
Beckham, 50, is regularly seen in the States working with his Inter Miami franchise, but his full focus was on the side close to his former United team on Saturday inside their 12,000 stadium.
Salford posted to their X followers on Saturday afternoon: 'Great to have co-owner Sir David Beckham here at the Peninsula Stadium today,' accompanied by a star-eyed emoji.
The ex-England captain was all smiles as he said hello to Swindon manager Ian Holloway, and would have been even happier after his side's fast start that saw them race into a 2-0 lead.
But things could have been very different for the club has Beckham not stepped in a matter of week ago.
David Beckham took time out of his busy schedule to watch Salford City take on Swindon
Beckham recently 'saved' Salford with former Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville
'I very rarely panic but when Gary came to me and said 'OK, this is the situation, we need to find a way of saving the club', I was concerned,' Beckham told The Athletic.
'For him more than anyone, because Gary committed to Salford from day one. I've spent a lot of time there but I know what it means to him. I know what the people in the club mean to him. I know what the fans mean to him.
'For him to say, 'we need to sort this out'… He very rarely burdens me with anything, so I knew this was something we had to fix.
'Without even asking me it was always going to be a yes for many reasons. The values we always had as kids, with our families, with our mums and dads, with our kids now. We were part of a football club that had real values, that looked after people, that looked after their players, looked after their fans. That's when we knew we needed to make this happen.'
Majority shareholder Peter Lim left the club, which lost £22.5million across seven years, in 2024, meaning they faced an uncertain future.
Beckham and Neville partnered with Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies to build a new consortium in May, with the first board meeting taking place on Saturday morning, with Beckham present.
He initially became involved with Salford in 2014 when he partnered with more fellow former Manchester United team-mates Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Neville, Phil Neville, and Paul Scholes.
The club enjoyed four promotions in five years but are yet to make it out of League Two.
Salford are currently in League Two but are bidding to reach the Championship in five years
Beckham initially became involved in the club in 2014 alongside other ex-United team-mates
This season, however, they had won five of their last eight matches before Saturday, with Karl Robinson's side sat third in League Two behind Swindon and Gillingham.
Gavin Fleig of the City Group is joining the club as CEO to handle day-to-day matters, while Manchester United's Ronan Joyce has become chief business officer of the club.
Salford's aim is to reach the Championship in the next five years.
'We're very ambitious but we also understand that you take it one step at a time,' Manchester United fan Kelly added. 'We're going to get an outsized amount of attention because of who's involved but we'll deal with that and chart our own course.'
