New season, New Team takes a look at the six new teams to join Sky Bet League Two for the 2019/20 season.
The next team that we profile is Salford City, who will be making their debut season in the Football League after beating AFC Fylde in the National League play-off final at Wembley stadium.
About Salford City
Founded: 1940
Stadium: The Peninsula Stadium
Nickname: The Ammies
Formerly known as Salford Central, the club spent their early days in the local Manchester leagues before adopting the name of Salford City in 1989. With much of their history seeing the club compete in non-league divisions, they reached the third round of the FA Vase in the 2004/05 season and made the third qualifying round of the FA Cup one year later. Salford hit the headlines in 2014 when it was announced that former Manchester United players, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt would take over ownership of the club. Following the takeover and the ambitious plans of the former United players it was then announced that they would sell 50% of the club to Singapore-based businessman, Peter Lim, who also owns Spanish giants Valencia.
The club then continued their progression as they made it to the first round of the FA Cup which saw them beat then League Two side, Notts County. That set up another televised fixture with Hartlepool United, but the side were unable to navigate their way into the third round. But they weren’t to be without success that season as they sealed promotion to National League North through the play-offs. Now managed by joint-managers Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson, the club went full-time and more success followed as they managed to secure a place in the National League as they took another step forward towards the Football League. Despite the positivity and the promotion, it was then announced that Morley and Johnson would be departing, and the club opted to appoint Graham Alexander who had departed League One side Scunthorpe United earlier in the year. More exciting news for the club followed in January 2019 when it was announced that David Beckham would be buying into the club before in May 2019, they sealed a place in the Football League with a 3-0 win over AFC Fylde in the capital.
The manager: Graham Alexander
Graham Alexander had a fantastic playing career which began with Scunthorpe United as he worked his way up through the ranks before making his debut in 1988. He played for the club for seven years before moving on to Luton Town for a further four years. He then moved north to Preston North End where he amassed 400 appearances for the club, and he made the relatively short trip to join up with Burnley and represented the club in the Premier League, netting his first goal in that league against Sunderland in 2009. The Scottish international then moved back to Preston for a short period before taking the caretaker manager role in the 2011/12 season. He would take his first step into permanent management with Fleetwood Town in 2012 and took them to promotion from League Two in the play-offs during the 2013/14 season. Alexander then returned to Scunthorpe, but this time as manager, and he took them to the League One play-offs in the 2016/17 season. Alexander was dismissed in March 2018 despite the club sitting in fifth place.
The dangerman: Adam Rooney
Adam Rooney has had a well-established career, with the Irishman spending his early days with Stoke City before having loan spells with Yeovil Town, Chesterfield and Bury. In 2008 he made the move to Inverness and made more than 100 appearances north of the border. He then joined Birmingham City, a club he spent two years on the books with, which included a loan spell with Swindon Town. One year with Oldham Athletic followed before he returned to Scotland to join Aberdeen where he made a name for himself for his goal scoring. He netted 87 times over his four-year stint at the club, and he then opted to make the move to Salford with the hope that his goals could help them into the Football League. And that certainly was the case as he helped himself to 24 goals last season as Salford won promotion via the play-offs.
2018/19 season in review
Position: 3rd
Average attendance: 2,489
Top scorer: Adam Rooney
After 46 games, Salford finished third in the league table, despite winning the same amount of games (25) as the rest of the top four teams. They finished on 85 points, just four behind Leyton Orient who secured automatic promotion.
Fixture release day is on Thursday, June 20, tune in from 9am to find out when City will face Salford in the 2019/20 campaign.