The Salford captain, Liam Hogan, has said the club’s ambition is to continue their rapid rise by winning a fifth promotion in six seasons. They will play in League Two for the first time when they host Stevenage on Saturday but Hogan insisted the club, part-owned by the former Manchester United players David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville, with the Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, are targeting further short-term success.

“We’d like to get promotion,” Hogan said. “There is no point beating round the bush saying, ‘We have reached the Football League, we just want to consolidate and enjoy it.’ We have got momentum and a winning mentality instilled in us from the owners and the management and we want to kick on again. There is going to be some tough opposition to get those places in League One but we are going to show ourselves in the best possible light and compete for it. We know the club do not want to stand still.”

Hogan also defended the way Salford, who were competing in the Northern Premier League Division One North 10 years ago, have been financially backed by United’s Class of 92. “It is slightly harsh in terms of the fact they were lads in Salford, playing for the biggest club in England at the time, and Salford had given them a lot. The Cliff where they trained gave them a lot, they probably hung around in the different locations in Salford and they have obviously seen Salford as a project, literally starting from the bottom. It is not just a case of ‘We’re going to throw this, this and this at it to make the team better.’”

Graham Alexander has strengthened his squad, with the signing of Richie Towell, who played in the Championship for Rotherham on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion last season, particularly eye-catching. “A couple of years back, you would not be associating Salford City with a Championship player but that’s the sort of calibre the club is at now,” Hogan said.