Notts County goalkeeper James Belshaw saluted the “great story” of Salford City’s rise from regional football to the English Football League ahead of Monday’s League Two play-off final.
Ahead of the highly anticipated Wembley showdown, Magpies’ shot-stopper Belshaw praised the impact the Class of 92 hierarchy has had, with the Ammies now one win away from League One.
The club 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, but have remained in the fourth tier ever since.
“It’s a great story, Salford, what the class of 92 have done to take that football club up the leagues,” the 35-year-old goalkeeper said.
Belshaw, 35, joined Notts County in January. The keeper is a lifelong Notts County fan, but he made a name for himself at Harrogate Town, where he clashed with the Ammies several times.
“When I was going through the leagues at Harrogate, they were sort of competing with Salford. We (Harrogate) got promoted with Salford from National League North in 2017/18, so I’ve played against Salford a lot,” he explained.
Both Salford and Notts County could have earned automatic promotion on the final day of the season but dropped points on the final day of the season against Crawley and Bristol Rovers.
Belshaw said the two highest finishers deserve to be in Monday’s final.
“It’s the right final in the sense that it’s the teams that finished fourth and fifth, two teams that only missed out on automatic promotion on the last day of the season, but we’ll be prepared.”
Salford City and Notts County have both spent time outside of league football over recent years. Now one team will have the opportunity to play in League One. Belshaw said on the two teams’ positive narratives, “I don’t think it’s going to be a game of stories.
“It’s a game of football, whoever manages the day the best will win, regardless of whether you’ve been a boyhood Notts fan for 30 years, whether you’ve been a non-league club all your life and now you’re trying to get to League one for the first time, whether you’re David Beckham or Martin Patterson (Notts County Manager).
“All these stories, everyone plays football for different reasons, as I said, that’s not going to matter come 6 o’clock on Monday.”
Matt Butcher scored a dramatic injury-time winner last time the two sides met in April. Belshaw was unable to stop the midfielder’s late long-range strike from finding the bottom corner as Salford ran out 2-1 winners that day.
Belshaw added: “They are a very good side. They’ve got quality players, they’ve got threats that can hurt you, but we’re gonna be prepared.”
He also praised Ammies manager Karl Robinson, stating: “I’ve played against Karl Robinson teams a lot while he was at Oxford, they are a really good side.”
Notts County vs Salford City kicks off at Wembley at 3 PM on Monday, 25 May.
