When the Class of ’92 took control of Salford City in 2014 (and prior to Gareth Seddon), the club was playing in the eighth tier of English football. Five years later, Salford were in the Football League. And they’ve since remained in League Two.
The ever-talkative and outspoken Gary Neville might not be happy with that perceived lack of growth since reaching the Football League based on their original intention and money spent, but it’s still a pretty brilliant story either way. As those close to the club shall attest as they remember what life was like before they darkened their doors.
Names like Nev (including Phil), Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs inevitably dominate the story, but one of the most important characters in those first steps wasn’t watching from the directors’ box.
It was Gareth Seddon.
Salford’s new owners wanted somebody who could immediately score the goals required to move the club upwards. Their first statement signing delivered exactly that. Along with the occasional face to stick onto their latest kit launch.
Remember, from this previous article around the Class of 92: Out of Their League documentary on Salford City, there is something you can watch to get a better view of Sedds’ career at Salford. But have a read first, yeah? You’re already here, after all…
Gareth Seddon’s Career Before Salford City
Seddon had already lived a wonderfully varied football career before arriving at Moor Lane.
The Burnley-born striker started in the Football League with Bury, making around 80 league appearances before moving into non-league football. After spells with Padiham and Worcester City, his goalscoring really took off at Hyde United, where he scored more than 50 league goals across two seasons.
Kettering Town followed before Seddon joined Fleetwood Town in 2009. He helped Fleetwood win promotion from Conference North and was still there as the club continued its own rapid climb towards the Football League.
Then came FC Halifax Town, where another promotion followed, and Chester.
By 2014, Seddon was 34. He was also exactly the sort of striker the new Salford City needed.
With a wealth of football league experience, just old enough to still give a few years to his new club, an older, wiser head to help support the other players settling in, and someone determined to punctuate his career with an almighty bang.
Why Gareth Seddon Joined Salford City in 2014
Salford had just finished 12th in the Northern Premier League Division One North. But their new, famous owners arrived with clear ambitions to take them up the non-league pyramid and into the Football League as quickly as possible.
Gareth Seddon later recalled receiving a phone call directly from Gary Neville outlining a long-term plan to take Salford through the divisions. Neville himself subsequently described Seddon as the club’s “statement signing” – an experienced former professional and proven non-league goalscorer brought in specifically to help accelerate the project.
Seddon remembered standing there while Scholes and Giggs joined in. And it spurred him on to do the best he could.
Gareth Seddon’s Big Goals at Salford City
The impact was as immediate as it can get.
Seddon scored a hat-trick on his league debut and kept scoring throughout the season.
Salford went from 12th the previous year to champions. With Gareth Seddon proudly leading a ‘we are going up’ in a curryhouse with his teammates at the end of the second episode of that documentary – which is really bloody good, by the way!
They finished the 2014/15 Northern Premier League Division One North season with 95 points, winning 30 of their 42 matches and scoring 92 goals. Seddon finished as Salford’s leading league scorer with 24 goals.
Not bad for a man quickly approaching his 35th birthday.
Gareth Seddon and the Class of ’92 Documentary
I’ve referenced a few times, but let’s talk about how it aided the Salford cause – and that of Gareth Seddon.
The BBC documentary Class of ’92: Out of Their League followed Salford during the early stages of the takeover and introduced a much wider audience to the people already surrounding the club.
Seddon became one of its standout characters. The key word there being: character.
The Guardian described him as a “journeyman striker and male model” whose personality managed to compete for screen time with his rather more famous employers. After the first episode aired, Seddon even texted Gary Neville to tell him he’d done well on his show. It gave the club a requisite personality in a part of its journey that needed it to build.
Salford’s story wasn’t simply about five Manchester United legends investing in a small football club. Viewers got to know the players, supporters and volunteers actually living through it. Sedds became one of the faces of that first chapter.
Why did Gareth Seddon Leave Salford City?
Seddon remained at Salford for the 2015/16 season as the club stepped up into the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
The team continued moving forward, finishing third before winning promotion through the play-offs. Their FA Cup run also brought national attention, including a famous first-round victory over Notts County.
By this point, though, Salford were evolving quickly. And eventually evolved beyond Gareth Seddon.
He left in the summer of 2016, joining Ramsbottom United. His two seasons at Salford produced 26 league goals from 60 appearances.
Gareth Seddon’s Legacy at Salford City
After he left, the club won National League North in 2018, reached the National League play-offs the following season and beat AFC Fylde at Wembley in 2019 to enter the Football League.
By then, the squad looked completely different. But Seddon’s place in the story was already secure.
He was there when the project still sounded slightly ridiculous. He was the experienced non-league striker Gary Neville called when the Class of ’92 needed their first promotion. Then he scored 24 league goals and helped make it happen.
Salford City would eventually sign players with bigger reputations, spend considerably more money and climb considerably higher. But before all of that, the Class of ’92 needed somebody to get the story moving. And Gareth Seddon did.
What’s your best memory of Gareth Seddon in the early part of the Salford City story?