Depending on which of the Class of 92 you listen to, Salford City have designs on reaching either the Championship or the top flight in short order. They are a significant step closer to both now, this fourth promotion in five seasons sealing a Football League place, and nobody seriously expects the journey to end here. The Neville brothers, David Beckham and their cohort celebrated wildly in an executive box as this game was put far beyond AFC Fylde early in the second half; after full-time they joined Graeme Alexander and his players on the pitch and, while this day may become a footnote in the club’s history if they have their way, it will surely go down as the one upon which they achieved lift-off. “I’m so delighted for everyone that’s seen this club rise,” said the Salford manager, Alexander. He was appointed last May, three and a half years after the group of ex-Manchester United players had completed their takeover with the Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim. Salford’s progress has come at warp speed and will, no doubt, be expected to continue in that vein but this felt like an obvious juncture for all involved to pause briefly and bask in it. That they could do so came after a performance that, while not three goals better than a competitive Fylde side, was ultimately convincing. Salford did not sparkle but made fewer errors and were clinical. They took the lead on the quarter-hour through Mani Dieseruvwe, who finished well after Danny Rowe’s clearance had pinballed off his teammate Luke Burke, and rode their luck until the interval. Andy Bond should have equalised, lifting over the bar at the end of a slick move, and Salford re-emerged to blow their opponents away in a 16-minute spell. Carl Piergianni headed emphatically past Jay Lynch from a corner and then Ibou Touray was pleasantly surprised to see his misdirected cross fly in. The job was done; Salford’s vocal pocket of supporters, who brought some life to a crowd of 8,049 that was the smallest in this fixture’s history by some distance, could sing their promotion songs and the club’s famous backers could perhaps reflect that they once again have a team in red to be proud of. “There’s a lot of players and managers who aren’t here today who have done a lot in the last five years,” Gary Neville said. “We said we would [reach the Football League] in eight, which we thought was quite aggressive, but once we got momentum we thought ‘just go with it’.” Alexander joked, in part anyway, that the next target was “to get as drunk as possible tonight”. Planning for League Two could wait another 24 hours, he explained, but Salford’s intent could hardly be clearer.<doc-sep>Salford City have been promoted to the English Football League for the first time in their history after defeating Fylde 3-0 in the National League final at Wembley. They rode their luck at times in the first-half as Fylde missed several great chances but Mani Dieseruvwe made no mistake with his and capitalised on a defensive mishap to calmly slot in the opener. The Ammies then came out of the traps flying in the second-half and scored two goals in two minutes through a powerful Carl Piergianni header and a fortunate cross-cum-shot that lofted the keeper and sneaked in at the back post from Ibou Touray. It's Salford's fourth promotion in five years and a massive step forward for joint-owners Gary Neville, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, who were watching on at Wembley. The result is the biggest National League Play-off win ever. See the highlights below:<doc-sep>Get the latest United updates, transfer news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox every day for free Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Just after the Class of 92 had completed their takeover of Salford City in March 2014 Gary Neville visited AFC Fylde's modern Kellamergh Park to speak to owner David Haythornthwaite. The Coasters were on their own rise through the non-league pyramid and that summer they were heading for the Conference North. Neville, never one to enter a new venture without maximum commitment, was keen to pick the brains of Haythornthwaite and others at AFC Fylde to discover non-league best practice. It was a journey Neville, brother Phil, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were keen to replicate. The next ambitious owner to take charge of a non-league side with high hopes and giddy dreams will surely head to Moor Lane. As Salford City secured a fourth promotion in five years at Wembley, beating AFC Fylde to the honeypot at the end of their non-league rainbow, Haythornthwaite could have been forgiven for regretting the red carpet he rolled out for Neville five years ago. For all their critics, and there are plenty in non-league circles who will be happy to see the back of them, and some in the Football League who won't give them the warmest of welcomes, the Class of 92 have done all they can to keep Salford's soul intact while never hiding their ambitions for this club, or denying the wherewithal to achieve them. On the day before the biggest game in their history Salford City's Twitter account posted a video of the 14-strong committee at Moor Lane. Without their contribution in the years before the takeover this club might have folded. Non-league clubs up and down the country rely on the devotion and dedication of such people. They are what make the game so vibrant at this level, why so many clubs can prosper beyond the Football League. They all love the muck and nettles of non-league football, but they all dream of a day when they can sit back and watch their team rise through the leagues. This was their day. On the opposite side of that romanticism was Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and latest investor David Beckham joining the BT Sport crew pitchside in the lead-up to the game. Some non-league fans who feel the Ammies have become the moneyed elite at this level will have been reaching for the remote. But as so often they said all the right things, made all the right noises. In an era of football clubs being run by assorted mercenaries, charlatans and chancers, an awful lot of clubs would happily swap. The Class of 92 certainly care. Within minutes of kick-off at a sparsely populated Wembley a few hundred Salford fans moved to an empty section of seating to create their own 'singing section'. (Image: Getty Images) Neville, Beckham and co eschewed the directors' box. Instead Nevile stood behind a barrier near the corporate seats at Wembley, the fidgeting with his hands and thousand-yard stare betraying the nerves. This was a day for standing. He looked like what he wanted to join those fans. Beckham's presence alongside his Class of 92 stablemates added another level of stardust to the occasion. Since taking a 10 per cent stake in the club at the start of the year Beckham had made one visit to Moor Lane, for the 3-1 defeat to Dover in February. A bad luck omen? This was some day to put it to the test. After Mani Dieseruvwe's early goal Salford sat deep, inviting pressure, and you began to wonder, to worry. But they roared out of the blocks after the break. Carl Piergianni's thumping header within eight minutes of the restart started the party behind that goal. "We are going up" has become the club anthem for Salford City in recent seasons. When Ibay Touray's cross somehow snuck in at the far post the celebrations could truly begin. When the owners took this club professional at the start of last season Gary Neville laid out the plan for the Football League. "The realistic target is achieving promotion to the Football League like within four, five or six years," he said. At the time Salford City were preparing for their first ever season in the National League North. Two years later they'll be playing in the Football League next season. The ultimate ambition? "We don't have a ceiling for it," Neville said in the summer of 2017. They certainly don't now. It was captain Liam Hogan who would climb the 107 steps at Wembley to lift the trophy, although promotion is the only prize that matters in play-off finals. Hogan was born and bred in Salford. This might be a club benefiting from some famous ownership, but at heart it remains the club that revels in its Dirty Old Town anthem. Now it's a football club going places too. The Class of 92 dreamed a dream by the old canal. Now they're living it. For the third successive season the Ammies will play at their highest level next year. They were a shooting star passing by the sixth tier, and then the National League. They might take some stopping in League Two.<doc-sep>
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has revealed that Salford City have been promoted to the Football League three years ahead of schedule following their National League play-off victory. Salford defeated AFC Fylde 3-0 at Wembley thanks to goals from Mani Dieseruvwe, Carl Piergianni and Ibou Touray at Wembley to make it the fourth tier of English football for the first time in their 79-year history. Neville is a joint-owner of the Ammies alongside other members of the Class of 92, his brother Phil Neville, David Beckham,Ryan Giggs, and Nicky Butt as well as businessman Peter Lim. Neville, who watched the game at Wembley, couldn't contain his pride at the achievement and thanked all those who helped them get there along the way. "It's not easy (to understand) how difficult it is," the former right-back told BT Sport after the game. "You have to make tough decisions, we've been really clinical at times over the last five years and sometimes you don't like yourself for it. I think there's a lot of players who aren't here today, the managers who aren't here today, who've done a lot over these last five years. "Four promotions in five years, we said we'd do it in eight and we thought that was quite aggressive but once we got the momentum and on a roll we just thought 'right lets go for it' and it's tough but we've done it and we're so proud, we're so delighted. "We had 180 fans five years ago and now we've got a few thousand here so it's amazing." It's been a long, hard season for Salford, who finished third in the league after being the bookies favourites to win the division outright and Neville admits it's not been easy. "Everybody said about the National League 'what's it like?' and we thought 'we went 20 games unbeaten from early on'. Then we got to December and I was thinking 'right, this is the National League.' "For the next two, three months, you were at Barrow and games like that and it just hit us like a tonne of bricks. And we got out of it in the end but no one's ever got out of this league at the first time and I don't know how we've got out of it because it's an illogical league. "Dover, Braintree beat us, honestly it's an amazing league, so competitive but we got there in the end." Ryan Giggs was also in attendance and congratulated all those who helped make the historic promotion happen. "There's been ups and downs. It is different watching and obviously when we were playing you were part of it, you're on the pitch but no it's an amazing achievement by everyone to do with Salford, the fans, the players, the staff, Gary especially has put so much hard work in."