Salford City have ambitions to become the “best small club in the world by 2030” and they are banking on a David Beckham-inspired rebrand to make the EFL League Two club one of the most recognizable, too.
Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round visit to Manchester City will give Salford a fleeting moment in the global spotlight. The team lost 8-0 at the Etihad in last season’s third round, but a return to the club’s traditional colors of orange-and-black from next season is designed to honor the team’s heritage at the same time as following the path taken by Inter Miami, Beckham’s MLS franchise, with their instantly recognizable pink shirts.
– Man City vs. Salford: Stream LIVE Saturday, 9:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+ (U.S.)- Is Pep Guardiola getting ready to leave Man City? Only he knows- Michael Carrick has restored hope at Man United. What else can he do?
Having been co-owned by Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim and members of Manchester United’s “Class of ’92” — Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville — following a takeover of the then-ninth tier team in 2014 (Beckham became a shareholder in 2019), only Gary Neville and Beckham, alongside several other investors, now have a stake in the club. But despite Salford securing four promotions in five years to earn EFL status in 2019, the decision by Neville in 2014 to dispense with the club’s traditional colors and play in the same red, white and black as United wore was never universally popular with supporters.
“When the [Class of ’92] lads took over the club, they felt that going to red, white and black was an opportunity to change things up,” Beckham told Salford’s YouTube channel. “But Gary admitted quite quickly that may have been a mistake.
“The fans associated Salford City with being orange-and-black, and I’ve seen with Miami that it can be so important with the fans and the club [to have an identity]. Going back to that really gives us that identity of what Salford is all about.”
After taking control of the club with Beckham in May 2025 — there is no multi-club link or partnership with Inter Miami — Neville and his former United teammate decided to reconsider the club colors and team crest, which was also replaced by a new version in 2014. But after getting it wrong the first time, Neville put it to a vote of the club’s 1,100 season ticket holders, insisting that any change must be backed by at least two-thirds of the supporters.
When the ballot was held last October, 77.1% voted to revert to orange-and-black, while 72% backed a change of the team badge, which means both will change from the start of the 2026-27 season. Work will also be done at a later date to change the colors of the stadium from red to orange.
“The original change was done because the incoming owners liked red due to the United link and of course, it brought a lot of United fans into the club,” Salford CEO Gavin Fleig told ESPN.
“But while those intentions were good, Gary acknowledges it wasn’t the best move in terms of the club and its identity, and that’s why we are changing back to orange. If you’re in Salford or Manchester and you see red, you think United, not Salford. But moving forward, you’ll very definitely think Salford City, and not just in Manchester, because we think the new identity will carry us a lot further than that.
“Before joining Salford, I worked for the City Football Group where we had Palermo as part of the group. Palermo was the first club to wear pink globally, but people automatically think of Miami now. That’s probably where David comes into this because he has been very, very keen on the change. If you see a pink shirt, you think it’s Miami; our wish would be that you see orange and you think Salford.”
Beckham’s influence has also extended to the new Salford crest, with the club hiring Milk Agency, the New York-based brand consultancy that designed Inter Miami’s badge, to produce Salford’s new logo.
“Our existing badge, introduced in 2014, doesn’t have our name on it and as a modern football club, if you want to be recognized internationally, you need your name on the badge,” Fleig said.
“We came up with a crest that is unique to us. It has very simple, authentic Salford elements to it.”
Salford’s 1-0 defeat away to Accrington Stanley in their last league fixture denied the team the chance to climb into the automatic promotion spots in League Two, but they remain in the playoff zone with their ambitions of elevation to a higher level still intact. The FA Cup game at City offers a break from the promotion push and a glimpse of the top of the pyramid, which Salford are determined to reach.
“By 2030, we want to become the best small club in the world,” Fleig said. “That’s what we want to achieve.
“We want to build a club that’s ready for the Championship that has Premier League potential in the next five years. If we apply that ambition in our commercial and our first team, our Lionesses [women’s team], our academy and our business operations, this club will be very, very successful.”
But can the rebrand attract new supporters to Salford? Neville now wears an orange watch strap and has an orange phone case to remind him of the change that is coming and, with United red no longer part of the club’s fabric, some City supporters might now be attracted to watch their near neighbors.
“The thinking behind this isn’t to please Manchester City fans,” Neville said. “But if there is an unintended benefit, we’ll take it!”
