Gary Neville believes David Beckham will help Salford City to “evolve” as a club after purchasing 10 per cent in the National League club.
Beckham has joined his Class of 92 friends and their project to take their ownership up to 60 per cent with Singapore businessman Peter Lim owning the other 40 per cent.
Beckham already owns Inter Miami, who will enter MLS in 2020, and has now helped to step up the progress at Salford, with Neville insisting his friend’s guidance will be valuable.
“It’s more of a timing thing with David really, in terms of other things he’s had on, he’s grown very close to Peter Lim over the last four or five years, which is really important in terms of the ownership structure and trust we build together,” Neville said in his Sky Sports column. “We are aligned in what we are trying to achieve, we obviously know each other inside out historically, so it’s a good thing.
“David has taken 10 per cent of Peter’s shareholding, which is a huge step for him, but he still provides us with that guidance and the ability to evolve which we want as a football club.
“I think we all bring different things to the table in terms of qualities. If we want someone to calm us down we speak to Ryan [Giggs] or Paul [Scholes], if we want someone to talk about different aspects you might speak to Nicky [Butt] and Phil [Neville] – they’ve all got different experiences and knowledge of different aspects of the game.
“I don’t know if the success of Salford has helped David come in. We understand in football you can win and lose, and I don’t think it’s a decision as shallow as that in terms of what we’ve done because he looks at the club and sees the stadium, the way the team is going and understands it is a really good thing to be a part of.”
Beckham revealed his attachment to the area and his excitement to help continue the journey.
"It is a really special club with a special group of people," said Beckham. "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'm really excited to be spending more time in Salford again."
