Salford City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded as Salford Central in 1940, the club initially competed in local amateur football leagues before being admitted to the Manchester League in 1963. During the 1970s, the club achieved success in regional competitions, winning the Lancashire Amateur Cup in 1971, 1973, and 1975, and the Manchester Premier Cup in 1978 and 1979. In 1980, Salford joined the Cheshire County League, which merged with the North West Counties Football League (NWCFL) in 1982. The club adopted the name Salford City in 1989 and gained promotion to the Northern Premier League (NPL) in 2008. In the club's first season at that level, it avoided relegation by securing its league status on the final day of the season.
In 2014, the club was acquired by former Manchester United players Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, and Paul Scholes, alongside Singaporean businessman Peter Lim. David Beckham subsequently acquired a 10% stake in the club from Lim in 2019. In August 2024, Neville purchased Lim's remaining shareholding. On 8 May 2025, the club announced that it had been acquired by a new ownership group led by Beckham and Neville, which also included US businessman Declan Kelly and Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch.
Salford City play their home matches at Moor Lane, a stadium that underwent extensive redevelopment between 2016 and 2017. The ground is currently known as the AIG Stadium under a sponsorship agreement. Throughout much of the club's history, the team has worn tangerine shirts and black shorts, although the club played in red shirts and white shorts from 2014 until 2026. The club's nickname, "The Ammies", derives from its former name, Salford Amateurs, which was used from the early 1960s until the early 1970s. The club's anthem is "Dirty Old Town", written by Salford-born songwriter Ewan MacColl and popularised by The Pogues.
History
The Ammies in amateur football (19401982) The club was founded in 1940 as Salford Central, named after a Salford church where the club was founded. The club competed in local leagues until 1963, when they were promoted to the Manchester Football League and changed the club name to Salford Amateurs. Now nicknamed "The Ammies", Salford won the Lancashire County Football Association (LFA) Amateur Cup for the first time in 1971, beating Aintree Villa 4–0 at Old Trafford, with all four goals arriving in extra time. They won a second LFA Amateur Cup in 1973, defeating Langton 3–1 at Old Trafford. and won a third in 1975 by beating Waterloo Dock 2–1 at Maine Road. Salford came close to a fourth cup success in 1977, reaching the semi-finals before losing to Blackpool Rangers.
Further success arrived for Salford later in the decade in the form of the Manchester Premier Cup, which the club lifted in 1978 and 1979. The club changed their name once more, dropping the Amateurs moniker to become known simply as Salford, and moved into their current home Moor Lane in 1978. In the 1980–81 season, Salford reached the fourth round of the FA Vase, losing 2–0 to eventual winners Whickham. Following restoration of the ground and a merger with Anson Villa, Salford entered the Cheshire County League in the same season, finishing 15th and 16th in Division 2, before the league amalgamated with the Lancashire Combination to form the North West Counties Football League (NWCFL).
North West Counties League (19822008) Salford started off in the second division of the NWCFL, and were promoted to the first division in 1986 despite finishing 18th, due to a reshuffling of the pyramid. The club would adopt its current name of Salford City in 1989 and, the following season, they returned to the final of the Manchester Premier Cup, losing to Curzon Ashton. Later in 1990, they entered the FA Cup for the first time to mark the club's 50th anniversary, losing 3–0 to Warrington Town. Brief highlights of the game were included in the BBC's coverage of the buildup to the 1991 FA Cup final. Salford would later be relegated out of Division One into Division Two at the end of the 1990–91 season, though a league restructuring saw them immediately promoted the following season. The 2001–02 saw Salford narrowly miss out on major success; despite amassing 97 points, they missed out on promotion to Prescot Cables on goal difference, and also made another appearance in the final of the Manchester Premier Cup in 2002, but lost 3–1 to Ashton United at Boundary Park. Manager Andy Brown resigned in March of the next season, with their title challenge collapsing following a post-Christmas run of one win in 10, culminating in a 4–0 defeat to Skelmersdale United.
In the 2003–04 season, with the team 16 points behind Mossley despite being again considered amongst the favourites for the league, the club sacked Chris Wilcock and replaced him with former player Mark Molyneaux. He lasted less than a year before resigning, citing financial restrictions placed on him by the club. He was replaced by Darren Lyons. In the 2004–05 season, Salford reached the third round of the FA Vase before losing 2–1 to West Allotment Celtic In March, they appointed John Foster as manager to replace Darren Lyons, with his first game being a 5–1 victory over Atherton Collieries. At the end of the season, Foster left his role as manager, and was replaced by Irlam manager Gary Fellows. Fellows began his reign with a 4–2 win against Glossop North End, followed by a 4–2 loss to title favourites Cammell Laird.
In January 2006, Salford pulled off a coup by signing former Manchester United starlet Ben Thornley, with the hopes of boosting matchday attendance. Having defeated Ramsbottom United 2–1, Salford reached the NWCFL League Challenge Cup semi-finals for the first time, where they overcome a first leg loss to beat Oldham Town 2–1 over two legs. In May, Salford won the final, overcoming holders Cammell Laird 3–2 in the final; goals from Jamie Baguley, Jon Robinson and Callum Higginbottom gave Salford a 3–0 lead which eventually won Salford the trophy, the first time they had achieved silverware in their 24 years as a semi-professional team. However, the club would miss out on promotion on the last day of the season, with a 1–0 loss to Cammell Laird dropping them to fifth, with restructuring of the league meaning only three teams would be promoted.
2006 to 2008: Push for promotion In June, local businessman and former Salford player Darren Quick became the new Salford chairman, taking over from Ged Carter, and was being quoted as saying that he was targeting Conference football within six years, while promising Fellows a bigger budget to help the club fulfil their potential. The season began with a 3–1 home loss to Curzon Ashton, despite having gone a goal up after 15 minutes, but followed with five wins on the bounce to move into third in the table. On 3 October, Salford played a home league game against F.C. United of Manchester at The Willows, previous home of rugby league side Salford City Reds; Salford won the game 2–1 in front of a crowd of 4,058, leaving Fellows to be confident of a title challenge. After consecutively beating Stone Dominoes and Squires Gate 5–0 and 4–0 respectively, Salford moved level on points with FC United in December, and then became sole league-leaders at Christmas having picked up four points from games against Newcastle Town and Maine Road, with Fellows restating his belief the club could go on to win the league.
In the 2007–08 season, Salford were again amongst the favourites for promotion, and began their campaign with back-to-back 2–1 victories against Formby and Winsford United. They went unbeaten in nine games before suffering a 1–0 defeat to Silsden in late October. They ended their campaign by defeating league champions Trafford 3–0 followed two days later by a 2–1 win against Runcorn Linnets, meaning the club finished second in Division One of the North West Counties League, and after weeks of uncertainty, the FA confirmed that the club had been promoted to Division One North of the NPL, the eighth tier of the English football league system and what would be the highest level the club had ever played at. Salford would also enter the FA Vase for the final time in this season, achieving their joint-best run after beating Hallam 3–0, before suffering a surprise 3–1 defeat to Coventry Sphinx.
The Great Escape (20082009)
The club suffered a difficult start in the NPL, losing six of their first seven matches, including shipping four goals in three consecutive games to Clitheroe, Mossley, and Bamber Bridge, a run of form which resulted in Fellows being relieved of his managerial duties in October 2008. In the two fixtures following his departure, the team picked up their second point of the season against Colwyn Bay, followed by a victory in the FA Trophy preliminary stage against Gresley Rovers. Salford moved to appoint former Bridlington Town and Stockport Sports manager Ashley Berry as the new manager, with Greg Challender as his assistant, and he quickly made experienced midfielder Neil Redfearn their first signing. His first game in charge did not bring about a change in fortunes, losing 6–2 at home to Trafford. Berry's first win in charge, and the club's first league win of the season, came on 15 November, when they defeated Mossley despite going behind in the 19th minute.
After only two months and with results still not improving, Berry was sacked, with chairman Darren Quick citing the club's desperation to not be relegated after only one season in the division. Berry was replaced the following month by former Flixton manager Paul Wright; however, Salford were unaware of a pre-existing suspension he had received from the Football Association for a "serious touchline breach", meaning Wright was unable to start work until March and thus forcing the club to appoint their fourth manager of the season, Neil Hall, who deputised for the first two months of 2009. By the time Wright took up his position, Salford were languishing at the bottom of the league, having achieved one win and a total of eight points from their first 26 games, leaving them 15 points adrift from safety.
A second win of the season finally came in March, when new signing Steve Foster scored all five goals in a 5–3 away win at Lancaster City. This was followed three days later by defeat, an 8–1 shellacking from Wakefield, a game where Salford went into the break level before conceding seven second-half goals. Their first victory of the season at Moor Lane came at the end of March, a 1–0 win against Bamber Bridge also marking Salford's first clean sheet of the season, and meant they had more than halved the points deficit to their closest relegation rival. The club's form continued to improve, and they achieved an important 3–1 victory over relegation rivals Rossendale United at the beginning of April, a game dubbed "The Game of Death". Over the Easter weekend, Salford picked up a further four points with a 2–2 draw with Chorley followed by a 3–1 win over Warrington Town, meaning they now sat only four points behind Rossendale with a game in hand. Salford won their game in hand against Harrogate Railway Athletic, but lost 4–1 to Skelmersdale United, meaning the relegation battle would be decided in the last round of fixtures.
Survival was secured on the final day of the season with a 5–2 win away at Garforth Town. It was a turnaround in fortunes dubbed "The Great Escape"; the club had been bottom of the table continuously since their third game of the season, were relying on Rossendale losing to Mossley, and were losing their own game 1–0 at half-time.
Northern Premier League (20092014)