“Pest and a hypocrite!” – Simon Jordan on Gary Neville and David Beckham amid plans for Salford City, announced earlier this week.
The takeover, completed in May 2025, saw Neville and Beckham, alongside new partners like Lord Mervyn Davies and Declan Kelly, buy out the shares of their fellow Class of ’92 members.
They are committed to significant investment to push the club toward the Championship in the next five years and, ambitiously, the Premier League.
Jordan’s comments, aired on talkSPORT, reflect his skepticism about their motives and methods, accusing them of mimicking Wrexham’s high-profile, investment-driven model under Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Simon Jordan acknowledges Neville’s resourcefulness but criticises his outspokenness on football governance, suggesting it’s inconsistent with Salford’s heavy spending, which has previously drawn scrutiny for potential Financial Fair Play breaches.
Jordan’s jab at Beckham implies their financial backing relies on others’ wealth, not their own, questioning the authenticity of their project.
“These last four or five years we’ve just lost a bit of momentum.”
Gary Neville gives an honest assessment of Salford City’s future following his complete takeover of the club with David Beckham 🗣 pic.twitter.com/X8KtH0jjnY
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 9, 2025
Jordan said: “They’ve got a window of opportunity because they’ve seen what Wrexham have done.
“They’ve seen the value of star power and that value of star power has given revenues to Wrexham via Ryan Reynolds and the other fella [Rob McElhenney].
“That’s given them the resources to be able to punch their way into the Championship.
“So Salford must be scratching their head thinking, ‘Hang on, we were supposed to be the big noise. We’re the ones that are supposed to be paying ridiculous salaries when we’re in non-league football to get players that were playing for Aberdeen, getting paid more money playing non-league football for Salford’.
“Also, of course, you know Beckham’s shown the value of star power with Inter Miami.
“He’s been able to get a franchise as a result of the back of his deal with the Galaxy. Get everyone else to fund it. Get [Lionel] Messi down there.
“And so now they’re replicating this – and why shouldn’t they do that? They’ve got the club they’ve built. They’ve done the hard yards of building the infrastructure of a club and getting other people to fund it.
“Now they’ve got another group of people to fund it for them I would suspect.”
Jordan added: “They’ve seen Wrexham, they would’ve looked at their model and seen what they’ve done.
“Beckham said when he went down to Birmingham, he’s never seen an atmosphere like it.
“Salford should now be in a position where they say, ‘Why shouldn’t it be us?’”
Neville said to BBC Sport: “We accept in the last five years, we have not achieved the success on the pitch we should have. That is a fact.”
Neville and Beckham put together a consortium of nine prominent investors, across a range of industries, after being put off by initial talks over a potential takeover that left Nev worried about the reputational damage it might cause.
“This is a ‘protecting our reputation’ play,” Neville said.
“A potential multi-club partner came forward but I realised we were going to be used as a machine to pass players around.
“I thought ‘nah’ that is not for me. I am not going to watch Salford City for the next five years servicing other clubs with players.
“I felt like I was going to become a slave to another majority owner and have to do what they wanted me to do. I was going to be coming to this ground and almost feel like a stranger in my own house.
“I didn’t want that. I can’t feel like that at this point in my life.”
Gary backs the football regulator, saying: “Let’s be clear. Change has been put in place.
“The EFL owners and directors’ test is a lot more rigorous than it was eight years ago when Bury went bust.
“But at this moment in time, the Premier League could be a little bit more kind and generous to the rest of the pyramid.
“It is nothing to do with Salford City. The extra money we would get would be into the few hundreds of thousands.”
On the gulf between the Championship and the Premier League: “We are now seeing a situation, which is dangerous, where the same three teams are going up and down.
“That is because of the parachute payments. There are almost cliff edges being created all the way through football and I am not a fan of it.”
HAVE YOUR SAY –
What do you make of the Salford takeover? Do you agree or disagree with Simon Jordan? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @fan_banter
