Salford boss Alexander reveals how Beckham, Giggs, Neville and Class of 92 stars celebrated promotion on boozy night out
Sponsored by
SALFORD CITY’S famous Class of ’92 owners sang folk classic Dirty Old Town in a London boozer after their stunning Wembley promotion triumph.
Manchester United legends David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville partied with the players after they beat AFC Fylde 3-0 in May’s National League play-off final.
Paul Scholes was the only one of the ex-United stars who could not attend the match and celebrations that followed.
Boss Graham Alexander said: “We all piled into a pub. I had no clue where it was, apart from somewhere in London, because we had had a few beers by then.
“There was a three-piece band playing and we were all there, the owners, the staff, the players.
“David, Gary, Phil, Ryan and Nicky were so happy.
“They had beers with the lads, congratulated everybody and praised our performance. Then they all joined in as we started singing.
“And they gave a great rendition of Dirty Old Town. It was brilliant.”
The song — which was made famous by The Dubliners — was written by Kirsty MacColl’s dad, Ewan, about his hometown of Salford and is sung by fans on the Moor Lane terraces.
Alexander, 47, took charge of the team last summer after the club had been promoted to the National League.
And the former Fleetwood and Scunthorpe chief said: “When I met Gary last summer, he told me how important the supporters and people of Salford are to the owners and their vision of taking this club into the Football League. The committee, who were at the club before the Class of ’92 boys came in, are still here and involved in everything we do.
“They ran the club on the back of a pound note and are the club’s lifeblood.
“This season we’ll have the cheapest tickets in the EFL because we want this club to be for the people.
“That was made clear when I came here.
“They said we have ambition but want to do it with these people.
“We have a corridor at the stadium which displays quotes from the owners of what Salford is and what it means.”
Alexander admits he had to think hard about dropping into non-league when he was approached.
He won promotion to League One with Fleetwood Town but lost his job at Scunthorpe last March, despite sitting fifth in League One.
He said: “Last season was only Salford’s second as a full-time club.
“So there was a big job on to help the club develop, continue to professionalise everything, produce a winning team and get them promoted.
“My career from the age of 16 has been Football League and above.
“It wasn’t a level I had envisaged working at but it’s a unique club with ambition.
“They didn’t just have a plan and structure to go up but to go even further.
“At the same time they were focused on the league they were in, with no delusions of grandeur.”
CENTRE OF ATTENTION
Alexander and his players have had to deal with something unique in the lower reaches of football — being in the spotlight. The TV documentary ‘Class of 92: Out of their League’ has been running for four years now and cameras are constantly documenting the day-to-day events at Salford.
When Becks attended his first Salford game against Dover last season, it created a frenzy of interest.
But Alexander, 47, said it has not proved a problem and his players have embraced it.
He added: “I’ve never experienced anything like it, so had concerns.
“I had never once had a TV camera filming us in the changing room before, so I was guarded about that at first.
“But the production crew were respectful of our working environment and kept in the background.
“On one occasion the cameras were in with us, I watched the players to see where they were looking and seeing if there was any distraction. There wasn’t. I genuinely felt it was the norm for them because a lot of players had been with us in the previous seasons.
“They were used to the spotlight and uniqueness of Salford. It didn’t affect them, not in a negative way.
“And to meet and get a pat on the back from people who are role models and played at the highest level gives the players a great feeling. It’s inspiring.
“There’s a balance to strike. You don’t want them to be too starry-eyed and forget about their job because they’re here to win games.”
Alexander has played in all of English football’s top four divisions — and just 18 players in world football have made more appearances than the 1,025 he made for Scunthorpe, Luton, Preston, Burnley and Scotland.
And it is ironic the midfielder — who also played at right-back — made his home Premier League debut with Burnley in August 2009 aged 37 against a United team featuring Giggs, who was 35. Both players captained their teams at Turf Moor in a game the Clarets won 1-0.
When Alexander captained Burnley at Old Trafford later that season, Gary Neville was the United skipper.
And that is not just all because when facing Everton later that season, the Toffees were captained by Phil Neville.
Alexander said: “None of us would have imagined that one day we’d be working together.
“The game at Turf Moor against United was Burnley’s first at home in the Premier League and Robbie Blake scored from the spot.
“Giggsy said to me as we walked out that we must be the two oldest captains to face each other in Premier League history as we had a combined age of 72!
“At Old Trafford, Gary and I were captains. I also played against Scholesy in midfield and we swapped shirts at the end. I didn’t play against Beckham and also missed out facing Nicky Butt as he had gone to Newcastle, who had been relegated.”
LATEST FOOTBALL NEWS
Alexander is also a perfect role model for Salford’s players as his career lasted until he was 39.
And the secret to having a long and successful career boils down to two things: “Luck and love.”
He said: “Luck because you’ve got to be injury free and love because you’ve got to enjoy playing.
“I tried to add something on to my training regime every year from the age of 30. Instead of taking a step back, I did more.
“I never lost that feeling of when I was a ten-year-old who wanted to play football with his mates.”
And how he would love to lead Salford to another dream promotion this season and be serenaded by the Class of ’92 boys again.