Salford City backers ‘Class of 92’ and Peter Lim bankroll £2.4m climb towards the English Football League
- Salford have been promoted three times in four seasons since takeover in 2014
- Adam Rooney signed from Aberdeen on a reported £4,000-per-week contract
- Now one point behind Orient in race for automatic promotion to Football League
The ‘Class of 92’ and business partner Peter Lim have given Salford City more than £2.4million in interest-free loans up to the end of last June, the non-league club’s most recent set of accounts reveal.
Former Manchester United stars Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, bought the club with Lim, the Singapore-based businessman who also owns Spanish side Valencia, in 2014.
Since then, Salford have been promoted three times in four seasons and are currently second in the National League, one point behind Orient in the race for automatic promotion to the English Football League.
The Class of 92 bought the club with Singapore-based businessman Peter Lim in 2014
Earlier this year, David Beckham took a 10 per cent stake in the club, the same as his former team-mates, reducing Lim’s holding to 40 per cent.
Scholes had to resign as a director in February when he became Oldham manager but the former United and England midfielder retained his 10 per cent stake in Salford.
The club’s big budget and rapid rise have attracted criticism and jealously from elsewhere in the game, most notably when they signed Adam Rooney from Aberdeen on a reported £4,000-per-week contract last summer.
The 30-year-old, who was the Scottish Premier League’s top scorer in 2015/16, has scored 19 goals in 30 games for Salford.
David Beckham recently joined his former team-mates by taking a 10 per cent stake in the club
The accounts for Salford and their owner Project 92 Ltd, which were both filed on Monday, do not reveal the club’s annual income or costs, as companies with a turnover of less than £10.2million are not obliged to do so.
But they do show how Salford’s borrowings from their owners increased from £655,000 in 2016/17 to £2,441,655 last season. This suggests they lost £34,000 a week during a campaign that saw them promoted from the National League North as champions.
After a wobble in February, Salford have won five and drawn one of their last six games, and have five games left to play in the regular season.
The average attendance at their upgraded Moor Lane home, now known as the Peninsula Stadium, is almost 2,500, half of its current capacity.
