Beckham was initially reluctant to join Salford despite huge net worth
David Beckham initially delayed becoming a Salford City co-owner due to "circumstances and commitments" not allowing him to join the club.
Beckham, 48, has a 10 percent stake in the League Two club alongside former Manchester United teammates Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. Each member of the ' Class of '92 ' owns 10 percent, with billionaire investor Peter Lim - a long-time partner of the group on their various other businesses - owning the remaining 40 per cent of shares.
However, when the takeover happened in 2014, Beckham was notably absent from the new ownership team. It would take another five years, until January 2019, for him to purchase his stake in the club from Lim and join his former teammates as directors.
That move made the Class of '92 majority shareholders of Salford, with the ex-players increasing their combined stake to 60 percent from the previous 50/50 split. In a statement at the time, clarification came that Beckham becoming a co-owner had always been the plan.
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“From the very beginning, we wanted David to be involved and be with us on this incredible journey, however, circumstances and commitments didn’t allow that," the Class of '92 collectively said. “Now the time is right and is another exciting time in Salford City’s history. It is important to emphasise that nothing will change in the day-to-day operations of the club but to have us all together was always the vision.
"We grew up in Salford, carved our careers here, and that’s why we are doing what we are doing at Salford City. We have grown to love this club and the fans, and we would like to welcome David to the club and to becoming part of the Salford City family.”
Beckham himself also addressed the move at the time. “It’s a proud moment for me to join Peter Lim and the Class of ’92 lads as an owner of Salford City FC," he said in a statement. “It’s a really special club and a special group of people. My early years in Manchester were all spent in Salford. I grew up there in many ways, so to be able to finally join the lads and the club today is a great feeling.”
The statement added that: "Lim will continue to offer financial stability" while remaining "intrinsic in moving the club forward." Whereas "Beckham’s arrival strengthens the ownership".
While the club would not be leaning on Beckham financially, he did overnight become by far the second wealthiest of the club's owners. He has an estimated net worth of £372million. Comparably, Butt, Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Scholes are said to be worth around £125million combined. Lim, for context, comes in at £1.56billion as the 1549th richest person in the world. Months after arriving, Salford won promotion to the English Football League and have since spent five straight seasons in League Two.
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