Salford have been recording losses of up to £91,000 a week
Salford City co-owner Gary Neville has defended the club’s spending policy after he and the club received criticism.
Neville, who owns the League Two side along with several other Manchester United legends, has come under backlash after it emerged that the Ammies’ parent company, Project 92 Limited, lost more than £4.7m in 2021.
That number averages to a loss of roughly £91,000 per week – an astonishing figure to be losing at any level. Project 92 was founded by ex- United stars Neville, his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Nicky Butt while Singaporean business Peter Lim is also involved.
‘We only spend the money that we have’
During an interview live on Sky Sports in the build-up to Salford’s 2-2 draw with Mansfield Town on Monday – ending their faint hopes of finishing in a play-off place, Neville defended the numbers that were revealed.
“We’ve invested enormous amounts of money in the last seven or eight years. But it’s all myself, David, Ryan, Paul, Nicky, Phil and Peter,” he said.
“Peter owns 50 per cent, we own 50 per cent. We’ve put lots of money in ourselves. We’ve chosen to do that. I’m not against owner funding. We put it in at the start of the season. The club is obviously robust in that sense.
“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.
“We could spend our money on other things. If we were driving fancy cars and doing all sorts of things with our money people might complain as well. But we’ve put it into our local football club and it’s significant capital from ourselves, the class of ’92.”
"I'll probably be more annoyed at Old Trafford later on when I go and do that game!" 😅
Gary Neville assesses Salford City's season so far ahead of a must-win game in League 2 against Mansfield Town 🔊 pic.twitter.com/tew2icl8T3
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 2, 2022
Neville also dis-spelled myths that Salford needed to secure promotion this season to ease the burden on any potential financial restraints.
He added: “The money that we put in is manageable between the seven of us. We’re comfortable with our position. There’s no financial pressure (to get promoted), but there is sporting disappointment.”
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