Gary Neville has hailed Wrexham's promotion as an example of what makes football special, aiming a dig at Manchester United in the process.
The Red Dragons, co-owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, achieved promotion back to the Football League last season after a 15-year stint in the National League. The promotion to League Two will see the Welsh club face Neville's Salford City next season.
Alongside his Class of '92 teammates Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs, Neville bought Salford in 2014 when they were in the depths of the English football pyramid. This season, they narrowly missed out on a place in the League Two play-off final after losing on penalties to Stockport County.
Like Wrexham, Neville's Salford have attracted criticism for their spending power to rise up the table. But, speaking to The Guardian, the 48-year-old hit back at 'franchise' claims and suggested it was teams like United, Manchester City and Liverpool who were involved in the European Super League project who are the real culprits.
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"The dream of the pyramid in English football is that you can rise from the lower tiers and play in the Premier League. Once we lose that, we lose everything," he said.
"What clubs like Luton, Wrexham and Stockport have done is what makes football special. We’re not franchise football. The Super League was an attack on those principles and it’ll never happen again."
Wrexham's ownership has helped build their profile in the US. Coupled with success on the pitch, the 'Welcome to Wrexham' documentary established a new fanbase Stateside. Reynolds and McElhenney are hoping to capitalise on this next month when the Red Dragons compete in a US pre-season tour against United, Chelsea, LA Galaxy II and Philadelphia Union II.
A Manchester Evening News special souvenir edition - Fergie's First - charts United's 1992/93 title-winning campaign and you can get your hands on one here
