David Beckham and Gary Neville have announced Salford City's home kit for the 2026-27 season, switching the club's colours from red to orange. The close friends and former Manchester United team-mates revealed the changes and a re-designed badge in a video.
Beckham and Neville led a takeover of Salford City in 2025 after previously belonging to an ownership group with their class of '92 team-mates. The two Manchester United legends are now the sole former players in the club's ownership consortium. They chose to jettison the red kit favoured by the Class of '92 owners and bring back the historic orange and black identity.
Beckham reflected on his personal connection to the area after buying his first house in Salford at the start of his Manchester United career. He trained as a youngster at the Littleton Road facility, which Manchester United has since leased to Salford City.
In the launch video, Neville teased Beckham about his early years in the city. "You brought the Spice Girls to Salford," Neville teased Beckham. "Do you remember that after party?"
Beckham admitted that he remembered the party at their property on Hazelhurst Road. The four-bedroom house was where Beckham and his wife Victoria began life as a married couple in the 1990s.
Reminiscences and training ground emotional return
Neville shared that Salford always made him "think of Nobby Stiles, in the B team at Littleton Road and just Nobby being in those changing rooms and having a go at us and saying, 'Come on, lads, get your tackles in.' And stuff like that."
Beckham agreed that being trained by Stiles was special. "And that's why when we went back recently and we walked out onto Littleton Road, it's my first time I've been there for 25, 30 years for a long time," Beckham added. "And I had to walk off on my own because I got emotional. You know, the fact that we have this training ground for Salford now and we're going to renovate it. We're going to turn it into something. But it doesn't need much because you walk in there and it just reminds you of like the history and the past that we had there."
Describing the people of Salford as "humble and tough and caring", Beckham explained that the community inspired the return of the orange and black colours. "All I remember is that Salford City black and orange banner," he continued. "So, when obviously you guys took over and all of a sudden it was red, I was like, 'the first thing we have to do is take it back.'"
Beckham revealed that he plans to "own" the colour orange in club football with Salford City, just as his MLS side Inter Miami saw him "own" pink. He mentioned that he had been working on the kit design and finding the perfect orange for nearly seven months.
Crest redesign details and promotion campaign context
The owners also reworked the lion crest, choosing a more historic graphic style and adding the Lancastrian red rose. "When you look at the history of Salford, you know, the lion is so prominent, but then we wanted to introduce the rose, you know, because the Salford Lads Club is such a an important institution in in Salford. So, it means something to the people and the community," Beckham said.
Neville explained that the circles on the badge symbolise local heritage. "And then the circles here, you know, the famous dirty old town, the gas work, they're sort of to symbolise the shape of the gas works," Neville added. Beckham noted that the design was "a real nod to the history of Salford."
Beckham stated that the only resistance to the changes came from "one or two lads who had the logo tattooed." The owners promised to pay for fan tattoo removals if requested.
Salford City will wear the new home kit in League Two after missing out on promotion to League One three months ago. The team lost 3-0 to Notts County in the Wembley heat of their play-off final after missing automatic promotion by a single point on the final day of the season.
