Nicky Butt explains Salford's change of approach after bullish Paul Scholes plan

30 March 2024 , 20:30

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Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes watching Salford in action (Image: Phil Oldham/REX/Shutterstock)

Paul Scholes visualised the ‘Class of 92’ celebrating their 10th anniversary as owners of their local club Salford City in the Championship.

Instead only after the recent appointment of former MK Dons boss Karl Robinson have Salford banished the spectre of relegation back into the non-league they left behind after a succession of promotions.

It was March 2014 when together with Singapore-based businessman Peter Lim, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt took over the Evo-Stik League Division One North club with attendances hovering around the 100 mark. David Beckham came on board a few years later.

A bullish Scholes set the controls for Championship football a decade later. After a monumental climb from the depths of the football pyramid into the EFL the Ammies have hit the buffers in League Two.

It’s five seasons there and counting while managers have come and gone, paying the price for what chief executive Nicky Butt admits has at times been a lack of patience.

Paul Scholes left with egg on his face over Marcus Rashford prediction

But with Robinson now on board and with extensive work behind the scenes both financially and in strategy Butt believes the current bumps in the road are being flattened.

“Everyone wants promotion every year, it’s not going to happen,” he admits. “It’s about improving every year although that doesn’t look likely this year. But there have been massive changes.

“There is always going to be a bit of pain in transition. We have felt that pain for the first six months of this season. We have to be a bit more patient. We’ve often been very gung ho. "Let's go, let’s go, let’s go’ but sometimes you are not ready for that.”

Butt maintains work on and off the pitch is now aligned ready for a reboot next season adding: “It’s about letting the manager bed in now and giving him a chance to sign players that he wants together with a strategy to hit the ground running.”

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John Richardson