"We were beaten in every area of the pitch." Karl Robinson said it standing in the Wembley mixed zone after a 3-0 play-off final defeat to Notts County. Nine days later, he was out of a job.
It's the cleanest summary of where Salford City are right now. A club bankrolled by the Class of 92, AIG, and Coca-Cola, carrying one of the biggest wage bills in League Two — and they've been in the same division since 2019. That's not a rough patch. That's a structural failure dressed up in optimism.
What actually cost Robinson his job
The sacking wasn't Gary Neville making a phone call from the Sky Sports studio. Paul Scholes, as chief football adviser, and chief executive Gavin Fleig drove the decision, which was then signed off unanimously across the ownership group. Worth making that distinction, even if the optics around Neville remain awkward given how loudly he comments on other clubs' governance.
The case against Robinson isn't just Wembley. Fourth place in League Two is actually Salford's highest ever league finish — but that context only highlights how badly they've underperformed in the seasons before. Four straight defeats in February against sides who finished in the bottom third. A last-day draw at struggling Crawley. And then the final.
Win any one of those games and Salford are up. They didn't. And with Wrexham now in the Championship and Stockport in League One, Salford have watched four clubs — Notts County and Bromley among them — climb past them despite all being in the National League as recently as 2022.
The gap between the vision and the reality
When the Class of 92 bought Salford in 2014, the club was playing in the eighth tier to crowds of under 100. Four promotions in five seasons made it feel like anything was possible. The target, stated openly, was the Championship.
That's a long way from League Two in 2025. The financials make it harder to stay optimistic: losses of £22.5m over seven years, a £20.47m debt to the parent company, and an average attendance of 3,050 — with only four League Two clubs drawing smaller crowds. Notts County, who just beat them at Wembley, averaged 10,715 this season. That's the commercial gap Salford are working against.
A restructured ownership — bringing in Declan Kelly, Lord Mervyn Davies, AIG as the largest shareholder, and Coca-Cola as partners — has bought fresh optimism and a stated five-year plan to reach the Championship. Year one is gone. The league position hasn't moved.
- Managers sacked since 2020: Graham Alexander, Richie Wellens, Gary Bowyer, Neil Wood (interim), Karl Robinson
- League Two finishes: mostly 7th–11th across six seasons, with this year's 4th place the peak
- Clubs that have overtaken them from the National League since 2022: Notts County, Bromley, Wrexham, Stockport
No replacement has been announced. Robinson's coaching staff remain in limbo. And former joint manager Anthony Johnson — who won three promotions before being released in 2018 — couldn't resist the dig on X: "Since then they've won one promotion, and that was the season after we'd left with the majority of the squad we put together."
Whoever comes in next inherits a squad that should be good enough for League One, an ownership group with serious financial backing, and a fanbase that's growing but still modest by fourth-tier standards. Salford's promotion odds next season will be short. They've been short before.
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face," new co-owner Declan Kelly said back in September. Robinson was the man knocked out. The plan, for now, needs a new face in the dugout.
