Salford Football Club Company Limited

Further to my previous articles on the several limited companies that have housed the club, including certificates of incorporation for Salford City Reds (2013) Limited and The Salford Football Club Company (1914) Limited, here is evidence of the company prior to the latter.

Salford Football Club Company Ltd. was incorporated on 9 March 1901 (company no. 69546, registered at 1 Regent Theatre Buildings, Cross Lane) largely to limit the liabilities of its directors in what would be the significant financial undertaking of building The Willows.

Those directors were James Higson (Chairman), W. H. Barrett, A. G. Crossfield, Harry Eagles, J. Edwards, J. Gough, W. Gregson, T. H. King, R. Lennard, T. Leslie, Edwin Mather, J. Morris, L. Thompson, Robert Walmsley and S. Whiteley.¹

It’s remarkable, certainly by modern timelines, that the land had not yet been secured but by the end of the year, Salford were making their home debut in a new stadium. What is especially remarkable is that The Willows was capable of holding a decent amount of people – it wasn’t a small ground; there was even talk that it would be built to hold a capacity of 60,000, possibly before being reined back. Again, all in around nine months.

Dorothy Higson posted a photo on Facebook of a share certificate issued to her great uncle William Goulding a year later, signed by Edwin Mather (now Chairman) and T. Leslie.

A share certificate for the Salford Football Club Company Limited.(Copyright © Dorothy Higson.)

¹ Financial News, Thursday 14 March 1901. A pubic record of the company can be found at The National Archive at Kew.