Gary Neville and David Beckham watched on as Salford City suffered a 3-0 defeat to Notts County in the League Two play-off final at Wembley, extending their stay in the fourth tier for another season.
Notts County, who finished one point behind Salford in the league table, took control with goals from Alassana Jatta, Lucas Ness and Jodi Jones. The result means Salford will mark their eighth consecutive season in League Two next year.
Former Manchester United players Neville, Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were all in attendance. Neville, who recently increased his stake in the club alongside Beckham, admitted he did not break his pre-match routine by speaking to the players or manager Karl Robinson before the game.
“I haven’t spoken to any of the players — I don’t before any game so it would be wrong of me to do so today,” Neville said. “I don’t speak to Karl either. It would be wrong for me to break the routine just because it’s a special day.”
Salford had missed out on automatic promotion by a single point and turned to Italian striker Fabio Borini in the second half to spark a comeback, but he could not replicate his previous Wembley play-off success from his time at Swansea City.
