Salford City boss Karl Robinson said victory in the League Two play-off final would be the “cherry on the cake” after a “weird and wonderful season.”
The Ammies booked their place in Monday’s final at Wembley Stadium with a thrilling 4-3 aggregate win against Grimsby Town, decided by Kallum Cesay’s 117th-minute goal.
Salford, who fell behind in the first minute of the topsy-turvy tie to a Reece Staunton wonderstrike, fought back to win 2-1 in the first leg on the Cleethorpes Coast.
Robinson’s side appeared on course to cruise into the final when striker Daniel Udoh extended the hosts’ lead in the second leg, but Grimsby fought back with two quickfire goals to send the contest to extra time.
“I’ve almost got this phrase: the Salford way,” the 45-year-old head coach said of the team’s track record of becoming embroiled in dramatic, battling games from a position of comfort, before winning in the end.
Describing “the greatest end to a season with every emotion possible,” Robinson reflected on the highs of a record-breaking run to the FA Cup fourth round which culminated in a narrow defeat at Premier League Manchester City.
He picked out the Ammies 4-3 win over Crawley, last-gasp victory against Colchester and the team’s 3-2 defeat of Swindon as memorable moments in an especially “unforgettable” campaign that will come to a head against Notts County in the capital.
At Wembley Salford will bid to earn promotion to League One for the first time at the seventh time of asking.
The Ammies won four promotions in five seasons after being taken over by the Class of 92 quintet of Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Gary and Phil Neville in 2014.
The Manchester United legends were in attendance when Salford beat Fylde 3-0 in 2019 to reach the EFL for the first time.
While David Beckham, who invested in the club in 2019, and Gary Neville front the consortium controlling the club after taking over last year, the stars remain heavily involved and their promotion at Wembley would vindicate their decision to hang around and back a project that has been turbulent at times.
When Robinson joined Salford, the club were languishing in 21st place in League Two. He described that people discouraged him from dropping down to manager in the fourth tier, after success with MK Dons and Oxford United.
“The number of people told me not to come here. I had never been in League Two before and the club were third bottom at the time.”
He explained that the opportunity to work with the “incredible” Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, whom he met during the hiring process, convinced him to put pen to paper.
In the aftermath of Salford’s heroic win over Grimsby, he said that Scholes and Giggs should be managing in the EFL themselves. “You all know how much I love football. I’m also a student of football as well.
He added: “I looked at who the owners were and thought this was a chance to ask about one of the greatest managers of all time, to ask what their mentality was like, how did you play 4-4-2, how did this… question after question after question.”
Asked if the owners will pass on their experiences to the players ahead of the final, he laughed: “The problem is it was the old Wembley when they played there.”
Our owners have produced moments at Wembley which are like some of the most unthinkable things.
Much will be made about the impact the Class of 92 have had when the players walk out in their red strip for the final time in London on Monday, but Robinson will have front of mind the buy-in they have consistently had away from the limelight in his mind.
“Ryan gets in his car and drives all the way to the games. When I first came here, Nicky was putting so much work in with the amount of meetings he had in a day and since the summer, Paul has been ever-present at the training ground.
“When we went to Swindon, I heard Paul say: ‘I haven’t been to Swindon before,’ that has been a constant line of his all season.”
The Salford City boss and the club’s hierarchy will hope it is a case of seventh time lucky on Monday when they take on Notts County under the Wembley arch, 3pm kick-off.
