Notts County v Salford - a battle of the ages at Wembley

Image source, ShutterstockImage caption, Notts County and Salford both won promotion finals at Wembley to get to League Two Monday's League Two promotion play-off final will be a clash of the ages. Notts County, the world's oldest professional football club and founding member of the Football League in 1888, face a Salford City outfit looking to take their ascension of recent years to new heights under the high-profile stewardship of Gary Neville and newly minted billionaire Sir David Beckham. Just one place and one point separated the two sides in the table at the end of the regular season. Salford finished higher in fourth, and only one point adrift of the automatic promotion places, in their efforts to reach League One for the first time in their history. Meanwhile, Notts are chasing their second Wembley success in four years - having beaten Chesterfield in the National League promotion final in 2023 - as they look to return to the third tier for the first time in 11 years. BBC Sport takes a look at how two sides with wildly different histories have been set on a collision course at Wembley. Inspired by Messi, driven by mum – how Iorpenda earned his place at Wembley Published2 days ago'Wembley is Salford's biggest moment' - Robinson Published15 May'There was obvious danger' - how fear turned into hope at Notts Published1 day agoSalford hit new heightsSalford City boss Karl Robinson has been riding the crest of a wave this season, building on the momentum generated since he took charge of the club in January 2024. After guiding them out of the bottom two to safety that season, Salford finished eighth last term, missing the play-offs by a point, before narrowly missing out on automatic promotion this season via their fourth-placed finish. Should they beat Notts County at Wembley, it will mean they climb to the third tier for the first time in their history and represent another milestone in the club's ownership. "It's the highest point the club has ever been to, currently," Robinson told BBC Radio Manchester. "We've broken every single record this season, everything - FA Cup ties, beating teams from above us the most amount of times, most amount of home wins, most amount of wins in a league season, most amount of points, highest league finish. "They have invested money, time and so much emotion into this. And this is not just a game for them, they love this football club." Salford get past Grimsby to reach League Two play-off final Notts County edge Chesterfield in League Two play-offs Those owners, Neville and Beckham, have transformed the club's fortunes since an initial takeover with fellow former Manchester United 'Class of 92' members Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, in 2014. Neville and Beckham have since taken control of the club, yet the impact of the rest of the group still remains with the other four still involved in other roles. "People don't see, for instance, playing Colchester away last season and Ryan's baby was due on the Saturday or Sunday morning. But Ryan got this car and drove all the way up because he's on the bench for the game," Robinson said of Giggs. "When I first came here, the amount of work Nicky was putting in, the amount of meetings he had in a day, he was everywhere. "And then you look at Paul, since the summer, he's been ever present nearly every single day at the training ground. He's been everywhere, and he sits there really, really happy and looking forward to it." Salford's closest run at promotion to League One came three years ago when they were knocked out of the play-offs at the semi-final stage by Stockport County. Having won four promotions in five seasons under the Class of 92 until 2019, it has been a long seven years since their last. Yet despite the weight of expectation, Robinson said he has not felt pressured by the ownership group to deliver promotion. "Gary's messages have never changed. If everything's brilliant, nothing. If everything's terrible, nothing," he said. "It's been so consistent all the way through my whole time here. So they mean quite a lot to me, trying to get this done." Salford's owners are also well known to Notts County head coach Martin Paterson. One of the former Burnley and Stoke City striker's first jobs as a coach was at Inter Miami - the US Major League Soccer side owned by Beckham. It was in Florida that he worked alongside Phil Neville, the younger brother of Gary. And while in Miami, Paterson also coached Beckham's son Romeo, who was on the books at the club at the time. Despite the link, Paterson dismissed it as a sub-plot in Monday's game of high-stakes. "I don't think the focus will be on David Beckham. The attention will be on Salford because they're a dangerous team," Paterson told BBC Sport. "Those kind of questions I understand because of who it is, he's a knight of the realm. Yes, I worked for him, but it wasn't a personal relationship, it was a professional one be

Notts County v Salford - a battle of the ages at Wembley

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