Manchester United's Class of '92 stars suffered £8.5m loss with Salford City over last two years

Manchester United's golden generation have made a £8.5million loss with Salford City due to the pandemic - despite being promoted.

David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt bought the non-league side in 2014 when they were 11th in the Evo-stik Northern Premier League Division One North.

Less than a 15-minute drive from Old Trafford, United's famous starlets have since dragged the team to ninth in Division Two.

But the Ammies, who play at the Peninsula Stadium, made the loss of nearly £4.8million in 2021.

And a they had made a previous loss of £3.7million the season before.

The team's strategic report for last season, signed by Gary Neville, said: 'Having had the previous season curtailed due to challenges raised by the global pandemic it caused a significant loss in revenue opportunities.

'There was a glimmer of hope that limited numbers of fans would be allowed to attend games from December 2020.

'However, after one such fixture away at Barrow, events transpired that this would no longer be the case and the rest of the season was played behind closed doors.'

Fans were given the opportunity to buy streaming codes to watch matches but take up was limited.

This is despite Salford being promoted to the English Football League for the first time ever in 2018-19.

But they are yet to see enjoy full, uninterrupted season. They lost £4,824,526 in 2021, with a further £3,768,024 lost the year before. Salford City earned only £216,420 through matchday sales in 2021.

The number employed by the club dropped by nine in a year since 2020 from 122 - more than seven per cent of their total staff.

The loss is all attributable to the owners of the parent company - Project 92. The company, named after the group being called the Class of '92, has the six former players as directors alongside Singaporean Lay Hoon Chan, who also directs the Old Trafford Supporters Club.

Salford City said: 'The Club remains steadfast in the aim of seeking promotion, backed primarily by the resources of our Shareholders and Directors.'

On June 30 2021 it still had profit and loss reserves of over £15million.

Last season the team also saw two new managers, with Paul Scholes even stepping up to act as interim after the removal of Graham Alexander and assistant Chris Lucketti in October 2020.

Salford claimed their first piece of EFL silverware with a victory over former Premier League side Portsmouth in the final of the Papa John's Trophy Final in March 2021.

They also received coverage of their Carabao Cup round two fixture against Everton and their League Two derby against Bolton Wanderers.

The club provides opportunities for football Academy Scholars and has made efforts to draw in young players on loan from top squads to give them experience.

They are also in talks with Manchester United to access some of their state of the art training ground facilities.

The women's team, the Salford City Lionesses, are seeking promotion to the national game.