Gary Neville speaks to fans with update on big changes at Salford City

Gary Neville speaks to fans with an update on big changes at Salford City reverting the club’s kit colour from red.

A proposal plan to switch the club back to a traditional tangerine orange is being put to a vote, with David Beckham acknowledging the decision to change to red 11 years ago may have been a mistake.

The change aims to restore the club’s unique identity, distinct from Manchester United, as orange strongly represents Salford.

Fans, particularly the 1,100 season ticket holders, will vote on the kit colour change between the 6th and 10th of October, requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.

The club also considered a new crest but, due to mixed feedback (only 46-47% support), decided to keep the badge unchanged for now and consult further.

To ease the transition, fans with red kits will receive next season’s orange kits at cost.

Stadium upgrades are planned alongside the rebranding, with efforts to align the stadium’s appearance with the new colour scheme.

The initiative emphasises Salford’s pride in its distinct identity, with strong fan support (99% in favour of orange in initial polls) for the change.

Beckham: “You think of red in Manchester, there’s only one club in my opinion.”

Neville: “When we took over the club 11 years ago, we made a decision to change the colour of the kit.”

Beckham: “That might have been a mistake.”

Neville: “We did something that was quite selfish and something that really shouldn’t have happened. It’s not sat well with me since. And so we’re going to ask you, the fans, the season ticket holders, whether you would want to go back to orange as our primary colour next season.”

Beckham: “Going back to that really kind of gives us that identity of what Salford is about.”

Addressed to the fans: “One thing that Salfordians are very proud about and don’t like being confused with is Mancunians.

“We want our own identity and one thing to do that is have a bright new future and go right, this is our flag, this is what we’re nailing to the mast and it is the tangerine orange colour that we’re going for.

“We want it to be a case of this is our colour for our city so that if you are in Tesco and someone’s in front of you with an orange scarf or you’re in an airport going abroad in an orange football shirt, you know instantly, this is Salford, this is my city and I’m really proud of that and I’m proud that I’m seeing other people wearing it.

“Everybody has their touch point of when they came to Salford City, be it all those years ago or now, was it the tangerine years, was it back when I it was a kit that was maroon at one point, or was it last season?

“So one thing we’re looking at doing is creating a new crest that brings all those together.”

Neville: “We know a lot of you have got used to us wearing red. But we feel as though, to be fair, it’s something that we should offer the fans the opportunity to vote on. If it matters anything to you, I think that from my side, I think we should do it.

“It will purely come down to your vote in the end at a majority of two thirds and above. I think that we should do a straw poll at the end because I think if there is a large majority in this room against, I think we should know that now and not go out to a further seven or eight hundred that aren’t here.”

Fan asks: “Is there going to be a separate vote for the badge and the colours?”

Neville: “We’re going to do both as one, it’ll be one vote, there won’t be two votes yet.”

Fan: “You said about the cost of it to the club to do this, to change everything to orange. What about using that money to upgrade the stadium instead?”

Neville: “I think that to be fair we do have plans to upgrade the stadium. We’re going to spend some money on it to make sure that this stadium is as smart as it can be, correcting the toilets, looking at the areas around the ground. I think you can see we’ve smartened up already. There’s a significant amount of work we need to do to get the colour of this stadium aligned with the badge that we would be going to and the colours that we would be going to. So that’s why we’re coming to you earlier. This is going to need six to eight months of planning. We’re going to need to basically completely recolour, reset. Every single seat will have to come out.”

Fan: “Over the last ten years, these people, they have allegiance to the club that plays in red shirts. They buy red replica shirts, scarves, etc. After ten years, they have to now change their thinking completely and everything is tangerine and I just wonder how happy individuals are in doing that.”

Neville: “A lot of people in this room obviously will be new supporters since 2014 and we will send out this information to all 1,100 season ticket holders, we will send them the sentiment of all your comments and we’ll then ask for support to change the colour of the kit or not to have support to change the colour of the kit and it will be simply your decision. And we’ll also, be fair, we’ve committed to everybody who’s a season ticket holder, everybody who’s bought a kit this season that’s red, we will give you the kit next season in that colour at cost. So whatever that cost, we don’t want make money out of the changes.”

Fan: “Because I know a lot of City friends, but will not come to this ground to watch Salford because of the United connection, the United leg, so you might get walking through the City staff.”

Neville: “Yeah, the thinking behind it isn’t to please Manchester City fans, to be honest with you. But if there is an unintended benefit, then we’ll take it.”

Fan: “I’m genuinely staggered because I think after 11 years you sort of get used to certain things and I think possibly I think I was always in favour of keeping the kit because it so unique. If you’re walking around in Tangerine in Salford I think people know who you support. If you’re walking around in red and white I think the assumption is you’re United fan.”

Neville: “Thank you. So, I’m going ask everybody who would like to this proposal forward, who is in favour of going back to our heritage colours, to put their hands up.”

*Almost everyone puts their hand up*

Salford City consult fans on changing club’s primary colours, crest and branding

Beckham: “I think that when Peter and the lads took over the club, they all felt collectively that going to red, white and black was an opportunity to change things up. I think Gary admitted quite quickly that that might have been a mistake. The fans still associate Salford City with being orange and black. I’ve seen with Miami, it can have such an importance within the fans and the club.

“You know, all of these are things to be talked about. We all have to agree with this and if we have strong opinions then we should all speak up. going back to that really kind of gives us that identity of what Salford is about.”

Neville: “Over the last 10 days, we’ve received feedback. We’ve got good traction coming on Orange. And on the badge, we’re not getting as good a traction. 80% of the sentiment and the sort of feeling towards the kit colour change was positive.

“So I think where we want to get to now is around the badge. It was quite clear that people of you were not comfortable with the badge change.

“I think it went down to something like 46, 47%. So effectively, if we were holding a vote today on kit colour change, it feels like it would be very positive and it would be overwhelmingly supported.

“If we changed the colour of the kit and the badge and we asked you to vote at once, you may then change your vote to be negative because you want to keep the badge. That was the feeling that came back to us.

“So what we’re going to choose to do, and I’m asking for your support on this, in the next two weeks when we have the initial vote it will be on kit colour that means the badge stays the same but we’d like to consult with you and do a piece of work over this next five to six weeks on bringing forward a different badge a new badge to you that basically you’d have a vote on again. Has anybody got any questions relating to that point?

“Anybody who’s got a tattoo of the current badge if we do change it then we’ll fund some form of like removal therapy or whatever. You know what I mean? I’m sorry about that. Because someone said to me last time, the four people who complained about the badge were the people who had it tattooed on their legs or their arms. I was like, all right, OK, I get it. I sort of understand it.

“So this is the second Heritage consultation with you, think that mainly tonight, the big thing is that we’re removing the badge from that vote that will take place between the 6th of October and the 10th of October. So we’re asking you to vote on the colour of the kit to change to start with and we’re asking you to allow us to do some more work on the badge because we’re not in a comfortable space.

“Got 99% saying they’re going to vote for Orange, which means that when the actual vote happens on October the 6th, it’ll be emphatic against.”