Salford part-owners Paul Scholes and Phil Neville dreaming of Premier League

Matt Jones 17:44 12/08/2019
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  • Brothers Phil and Gary Neville are co-owners of Salford.

    Salford part-owners Paul Scholes and Phil Neville hope Tuesday night’s home Carabao Cup clash with Leeds provides a taste of what lies ahead for the club.

    The Ammies are gearing up for one of the biggest games in the club’s history and former Manchester United stars Scholes and Neville are relishing the first-round tie.

    England Women coach Neville told PA: “It is a big game. It’s probably the biggest team we’ve ever had, played against or had to the Peninsula Stadium.

    “It’s the type of night we want, it’s the type of team we want to be playing against.”

    Salford are co-owned by businessman Peter Lim, who has a 40 per cent stake, plus Phil and Gary Neville, Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt, who have 10 per cent each.

    They won promotion to the English Football League for the first time last season after beating Fylde 3-0 in the National League play-off final at Wembley.

    Scholes has grand hopes for Salford to one day get into the Premier League.

    Scholes has grand hopes for Salford to one day get into the Premier League.

    Since the ‘Class of 92’ bought shares in 2014, Salford have won promotion four times, and Scholes has lofty ambitions for the club.

    “Where do we go the next five or 10 years? Who knows?” Scholes told PA. “I know it’s a long way off, but the target has to be getting to the Premier League at some point.

    “We want the big games like Leeds. I don’t think in the whole draw we could have got a bigger or better club, so we’re looking forward to it.”

    Scholes and Neville were speaking as TalkTalk and Salford celebrated a new five-year partnership, with fellow part-owners Giggs and Gary Neville also in attendance.

    Eight other League Two clubs are bidding to upset Championship opposition on Tuesday.

    Scunthorpe and Bradford have home advantage against Derby and Preston respectively, while Scholes’ former club Oldham travel to local rivals Blackburn and Carlisle play at Barnsley.

    Cambridge travel to Brentford, Forest Green take on Charlton, Crewe play at Middlesbrough and Northampton are at Swansea.

    AFC Wimbledon’s home clash with MK Dons is another stand out fixture, while Huddersfield and Hull face tricky ties against newly-promoted League One sides Lincoln and Tranmere respectively.

    All-Championship ties include QPR v Bristol City, West Brom v Millwall and Wigan v Stoke.

    Burton, who caused a string of upsets in last season’s competition before losing 10-0 on aggregate to eventual winners Manchester City in the semi-finals, travel to Port Vale.

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