The Fourth Tier: Can Salford’s Out-Of-Box Thinking Finally Pave The Way To Promotion?
Salford City have the backing of Manchester United's Class of 92, but will they ever escape the perils of League Two?
Seven days after losing the League Two play-off final, Salford City ruthlessly sacked Karl Robinson as manager. An insipid performance at Wembley resulted in a 3-0 defeat to Notts County, condemning The Ammies to yet another season in England’s fourth tier.
Afterwards, Robinson openly admitted that “too many of his players failed to turn up on the day.” Some struggled to handle the magnitude of the occasion, and once again, they choked on the final furlong.
The experienced Robinson had seen it all before. Perhaps he knew that the sack was inevitable?
Although he had guided previous club MK Dons to the Championship in 2015, the 2026 final defeat was his fifth failure in the play-offs. Robinson is now the joint-record holder of play-off defeats alongside Gary Megson.
Having failed the remit, Robinson lost his job. Salford’s long wait for promotion to League One goes on. The club are now preparing for their eighth consecutive season in League Two following their rapid rise through the non-league pyramid.
The takeover of the Greater Manchester club by the famed ‘Class of 92’ coincided with four promotions in five years. The club went from the Northern Premier League in 2014 to the Football League in five years, but progression has stalled over recent seasons.
They cannot get out of League Two and have gone through seven permanent managers and two interim appointments in an attempt to do so.
Perhaps accustomed to instant success, the former Manchester United players and esteemed Singaporean businessman, Peter Lim, have not been patient enough with certain head coaches.
The experienced Graham Alexander lasted just over two years as manager and was bizarrely dismissed just five matches into the 2020/21 season.
Salford had commenced that campaign with two wins and three draws.
Gary Neville, sporting director at the time, admitted that he had made an error with his choice of manager after a tactical substitution had backfired against Tranmere Rovers in his final game.
Alexander would go on to lead Bradford City to League One promotion in 2025.
Next up, Richie Wellens oversaw a delayed EFL Trophy win following the pandemic but was dismissed just nine days later after poor league results.
Wellens led Leyton Orient to the League Two title in 2023.
Gary Bowyer spent 14 months in charge but was gone in the summer of 2022 after missing the play-offs by two points.
Neil Wood would reach the play-offs for the first time a year later, but Salford narrowly lost the semi-final to rivals Stockport County on penalties.
A collapse in form during his second season saw him dismissed just after Christmas. A 5-1 home defeat to Tranmere Rovers on Boxing Day was the final nail in his coffin.
Robinson was the latest man to fall short.
The former Oxford United and Charlton Athletic boss missed qualifying for the play-offs in his first full season, finishing one point behind Chesterfield.
Last term, Salford finished fourth. A goalless draw against relegation-threatened Crawley on the final day, meant they finished one point behind Cambridge United.
Salford enjoyed their finest ever season in terms of league position and the number of points accumulated. Over the last twenty seasons, a total of eighty-one points would have seen you promoted on twelve occasions, a 60% success rate.
When taking over the club in 2014, Neville spoke positively about continuing the progression through the lower leagues and ultimately reaching the Championship within 15 years. They now need back-to-back promotions to make that prediction a reality.
Wrexham project the blueprint
Fellow owners, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, stated there is “no ceiling on the club’s ambition”. The words “Premier” and “League” were mentioned in press conferences on multiple occasions.
For whatever reason, the club lost some of that early momentum. They have become stuck in League Two and have enviously watched Hollywood-owned Wrexham AFC steal their limelight.
Granted, Wrexham have a larger fanbase and are historically a bigger and better-resourced club, but thanks to the financial backing of Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, they secured an historic triple promotion to reach the second tier.
The Red Dragons finished seventh in their debut season in the Championship, just two points outside the play-offs.
They will begin the new season as one of the overwhelming favourites to finish in at least a play-off spot.
Inevitably, Wrexham will reach the Premier League sooner rather than later.
Salford, on the other hand, had the financial backing of Lim; the attraction of Sir David Beckham and others investing and had the behind-the-scenes documentary series long before the rest of football followed suit.
Wrexham’s incredible journey was supposed to be their glory.
Over the last six years, Salford have certainly not been as successful on the pitch as they would have liked. But there is plenty to be proud of.
The club are competitive and will be amongst the favourites again to win promotion. The stadium has been rebuilt to hold just over 5,000 spectators, with the previous capacity limited to around 1,600.
A proposed move to the AJ Bell Stadium that hosted the city’s rugby league club collapsed in December 2022 after Salford council intervened and bought out the venue themselves for £7.7 million. The proposal would have seen Salford and Sale Sharks share the stadium.
The local council later permitted Sale Sharks to play at the Salford Community Stadium, alongside Salford RLFC. The Stadium holds 12,000 and future projections could see that number increase to 20,000.
The Salford Academy, launched in 2017, acquired Grade 3 two years later. The hard work has resulted in the likes of Kelly N’Mai, Kyrell Malcolm and Hayden Carson being involved at first team level last season.
The ‘Class of 92’ influence
The ‘Class of 92’ want Salford City to be another success story. They have invested their own time and money, with the co-owners covering huge financial losses. Those operational deficits were as high as £4.8 million the year after Covid.
In 2024, Gary Neville personally purchased Lim’s 50% majority shareholding in the club.
In May 2025, Neville and Beckham bought out the remaining shareholders, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville.
A new consortium, consisting of nine members including Declan Kelly, Lord Mervyn Davies and Colin Ryan helped raise over £10 million to invest in the infrastructure and the first team.
At the end of 2025, the consortium struck an equity deal with financial titans AEG, which now makes them the single largest shareholder and new strategic partner.
As a result, the club have a fresh impetus going into the 2026/27 season.
Salford have undergone a mass restructuring. The ‘Class of 92’ model has been modernised and entered a different financial sphere, and that is why missing out last season was an incredible disappointment.
The club tried desperately to optimise the expertise of Manchester United’s serial winners. They were spoon-fed a winning mentality in the United youth teams in preparation for the first team and the demands made by Sir Alex Ferguson, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce and Roy Keane.
Together, they have attempted to influence the football club as much as possible. Neville had been Director of Football and CEO before he handed that position over to Butt. Butt is no longer CEO but continues to support the club’s technical development and youth structure.
Ryan Giggs was Salford’s Director of Football and interim manager alongside Phil Neville for a short spell in 2015. Brother Neville continues to act as a consultant in a purely operational role.
Paul Scholes headed up recruitment and has twice been caretaker manager as the club looked for permanent replacements.
Another new era at Salford
In the summer of 2025, the club appointed the former City Football Group executive, Gavin Fleig, as their new CEO. Fleig provides Salford with a more corporate strategy and was responsible for the surprising appointment of Peter Cklamovski as manager this summer.
He is tasked with leading the troops into what could be their toughest battle yet, but Salford are prepared. Alongside their latest managerial change, the club have also refreshed their club crest, embracing their true identity and returning to a more traditional orange heritage.
Not many had heard of Cklamovski before the announcement, but the 47-year-old does include FC Toyoko and the Malaysian national team on his CV.
The Australian had previously worked as assistant to Ange Postecoglou in the Australian national team and comes with an impressive reputation in coaching.
With their latest managerial appointment, Salford have certainly thought out of the box. Cklamovski will not escape the expectation that comes with managing a lower league club with such a high profile. Salford remain the main scalp in League Two.
The club’s impressive wage budget will surpass £4 million once again, which comfortably places them as one of the top-tier payers at the level.
The club have offloaded a number of their top earners this summer, with Cole Stockton, Fabio Borini and Kadeem Harris all released after their contracts expired.
But this remains a very ambitious club. Patience for progression is running thin from ambitious owners and sections of the fanbase, who expected to be competitive in League One by now.
During the last transfer window, the outlay of £400,000 on the Irish forward, Ryan Graydon, from Fleetwood Town was expected to be the final piece of their promotion jigsaw.
Graydon’s impact was limited to three goals from twenty-seven appearances, and he was largely ineffective at Wembley in the play-off final. In fairness, he was not the only one.
Much more will be expected of him, of Cklamovski and Salford as a club as they prepare for another assault on promotion. Perhaps it will be the eighth time lucky?