Friday, March 28, 2014
Giggs and ex-Man Utd pros agree takeover
Ryan Giggs and four former Manchester United team-mates have agreed a deal to purchase non-league Salford City.
Giggs, in his 24th season as a player at Old Trafford, is joined in the venture by the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
United player-coach Giggs, 40, said: "We want to use our football experience and knowledge to nurture young talent."
Subject to Football Association and Northern Premier League approval, the deal will be completed in the summer.
Salford are 11th in the Northern Premier League Division One North, the eighth tier of English league football.
Gary Neville, who had his first United trial in Salford, said: "Salford City represents those early years, the commitment, hunger, enthusiasm, desire and spirit of football and I am very excited about this venture."
The former England defender added on Twitter: "For clarity, [there will be] no name change, no ground change and management and committee as before!"
His younger brother Phil, now United's first-team coach, added: "It is important to safeguard the hard work that is done in the lower leagues and it is going to be exciting to be able to feed our experience into the young players."