Class of 92 go back to drawing board as Salford prepare fourth promotion tilt

Salford City head into another League Two season touted as favourites to go up and with plenty of expectation heaped on them.

Most of that comes from the top down, with the high-profile ' Class of '92 ' co-owners bullish about the club's potential.

After winning promotion to the EFL for the first time ever in 2019, Gary Neville - the most vocal of the owners - insisted they were already making plans for the third tier.

"We've made some really good decisions which have enabled us to get four promotions in five years," Neville declared after their Wembley win over AFC Fylde in the National League play-off final.

"If we carry on making good decisions, accepting the going will get more difficult, we have a good chance of getting out of League Two in the next two or three years. We've prepared ourselves to be a Football League club. Our ground is League One compliant."

Despite those claims, Salford are preparing for a fourth straight campaign in League Two. Finishes of 11th, 10th and 8th have seen them narrowly miss out on the play-offs on each occasion.

Those near-misses have seen Neville and his peers chop and change in the dugout, with Graham Alexander, Richie Wellens and Gary Bowyer all having been discarded.

Neil Wood is the new man tasked with getting Salford over the line and continues the Manchester United link after three years coaching the club's under-23s.

In that time he won plaudits for his style of play and the fact that 17 academy players made their first-team debuts for the club. But while Wood was working for a giant of a football club in his previous role, there was relatively little external spotlight on him.

Now, he is opening himself up to scrutiny given the profile of Salford and their vocal determination to establish themselves as an EFL force.

He made all the right noises in his introductory interview, saying: "We have to create a culture of everyone pulling in the right direction. We want to create a team, a club, that they're proud of, that they want to come and watch, and we want to create a team that's entertaining for them to come and watch."

The importance of delivering promotion this season appears to be crucial if Salford's finances are anything to go by.

Back in April it was revealed that the club's parent company lost more than £4.7m last year - equating to an average of £91,000-per-week.

But Neville defended the figures, saying the hope is that one day they will be self-sustainable. "Every season that we haven't gone up, I've made bad decisions or we haven't done certain things well," said the former United and England defender.

"We only spend the money that we have. It is a lot of money to lose but we've come up from step eight and had to spend millions and millions of pounds on this stadium. And we knew that was going to happen at the very beginning. We do one day long for sustainability at the club. But we're trying to build a fanbase in a city that's not had a Football League club ever. It's new to us."

Of course, promotion to the third tier would accelerate the growth of the fanbase and key to that is recruitment. Contrary to what some may think, the club have only spent fees on a handful of players since arriving in the EFL. The vast majority of incomings have been free transfers.

As with most clubs at League Two level, this summer is likely to bring a high turnover of players although they are unlikely to be splashing out extensive fees. The signings of Stevie Mallan and Callum Hendry look canny additions whilst keeping hold of skipper Ashley Eastham was also important. More will follow and, given Wood's previous role, there has inevitably been rumours of a batch of United youngsters being loaned in.

How the project pans out will depend on how quickly Wood can get his ideas across and how the Salford players cope with a barrel of expectation placed on their shoulders.

Neville and his fellow co-owners have high standards that they clearly feel need to be met - and fast.