Perhaps Gary Neville intuited what was coming when the most high profile day in his decade as a co-owner of Salford City finally dawned.
The driving force and spokesman of the club’s Class of ’92 ownership group, was not present to see his team schooled by a Manchester City side which included only two recognised defenders. Neville was on a skiing holiday, as Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt took up their positions in the directors’ box.
He missed a masterclass in which City’s Jeremy Doku, to coin a term once reserved for Ryan Giggs, tore the League Two side apart and Salford-born James McAtee scored a second-half hat-trick.