Salford City are knocking on the door of League Two, the basement division of football league. Even though the season is just 19 games old, with the 27 fixtures remaining.
Salford won promotion from the National League North last season, their third rise in four years. But it’s tight race with former Football League clubs such as Wrexham and Leyton Orient vying Salford similarity ambitious and well-funded outfits like AFC Fylde, Harrogate Town Solihull Moors for the title.
Salford need to get into Football League. Once they get there they can reach for the stars, next comes League One, the Champion and then, finally Premier League.
Speaking to media, Manchester United legend Paul Scholes said people need to look at AFC Bournemouth for inspiration. They were one spot off the bottom of the fourth tier when former manager Eddie Howe took charge in ten years ago.
“You’ll probably laugh here, but I think about Bournemouth. At the start, I’d say the ambition was to get to the Football League, but you’re not going to get to the Football League and be like, ‘That’s it everything done, we don’t care anymore.’ We want it to go as far as we possibly can and the model that Bournemouth have looks achievable to me.” Scholes said.
“The good thing for me is that you see kids wearing Salford shirts now. You’ll always see [Manchester] United shirts around here, but people are embracing the club.” Scholes added.
In the last five games, Salford managed 2 wins and 3 draws so far. They are currently in third place in the National League standings.
Salford City players celebrate goal for National League game. (Source:www.dailyexpress.co.uk)
“It will go all the way. We play Wrexham twice over Christmas, so they’re going to be really important games.” Former United captain Gary Neville said.
“If we can get into League Two, our average crowd will go up to 3,000-3,500. If we went to League One it would 5,000-plus. If we went to the Championship, I think we would be near 10,000.
“We’re miles away from that, but you can see the trajectory now over the four years of evidence that we’ve got from where we’ve come to where are.” Neville added.
