When Salford City was formed in 1940 their height of ambition was probably to to remain in existence and provide the local community in Kersal with its own football club.
To that end they were successful and looked likely to continue wandering around the semi-professional leagues of the North West for the foreseeable future. But all that changed in March 2014 when it was revealed that former Manchester United stars (Class of '92) Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville had begun the process of becoming joint owners of the club which was completed in the summer.
Giggs outlined the long term aim was for the non-league club to be playing Championship level football within 15 years. This ambitious goal was further cemented with the news in September 2014 that the Ammies owners had agreed to sell a 50% stake in the club to Singapore based billionaire Peter Lim, the current owner of La Liga outfit Valencia.
The long road to Football League status began with Salford gaining promotion last season to the Evo Stick Northern Premier League Premier Division where they are currently fourth.
With City recently signing a five-year kit deal with Umbro, who were Manchester United's kit supplier in 1992 when the Class of '92 began their long association with Old Trafford, coupled with a first ever appearance in the FA Cup first round against League Two team Notts County then the future should be looking good.
However it has not all been plain sailing. As a documentary on BBC One, "Class of '92: Out of Their League" is showing many long term supporters are wary of this influx of money fearful the whole ethos of the club will change particularly now the Valencia owner is on board. Then we have the owners themselves who may have experienced stellar success in their playing careers but are quickly finding they are on a steep learning curve when it comes to running a football club.
Of course all this media coverage, good, bad and indifferent, management speak of long term goals and aspirations means nothing without results out on the pitch.
The FA Cup game against league opposition Notts County would provide the ideal yardstick to see how far Salford had progressed or perhaps more importantly simply provide a reality check on the scale of the task ahead.
In the end Salford pulled off a deserved giant killing act, perhaps too easy as Notts County, three divisions above them, were frankly poor. But let's not take anything away from the Ammies who dominated throughout and could have been three goals to the good by half time.
In fact the danger was they may regret those missed chances as surely County would improve after the break. Within 18 seconds of the restart Salford took the lead through former Manchester United striker Danny Webber who scored against an ex-United keeper Roy Carroll.
The expected response from the visitor's never happened and the host's doubled their lead with 17minuted remaining through a brilliant piece of skill from substitute Richie Allen. Moments earlier County had a chance to level after a comedy of errors at the back which left keeper Jay Lynch stranded but fortunately Steven Lynch made a last gasp goal-line clearance.
Still County failed to respond and City comfortably played out the remaining minutes to the delight of the 1,400 sell out crowd who reacted with a full throated roar at the final whistle...not so the 350 away supporters...
Salford City: 2 (Webber 46, Allen 73)
Notts County: 0
Attendance: 1,400
