From their different perspectives – Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were in the director’s box, Ryan Giggs was in the technical department in his role as Salford’s director of football and assistant coach, and presumably Gary and Phil were watching Neville and David Beckham on TV. They weren’t at the game in person – the League Two club’s famous owners knew what their team had to do to stop their hosts.

But knowing what to do and actually being able to do it are two very different things.

The brutal reality is that the ‘Class of 92’ in their prime were at a level far beyond anything Salford’s side were capable of.

Had Kylian Kouassi managed to convert Hakeeb Adelakun’s excellent cross from the left into the goal from a central position on the edge of the six-yard box, Salford would have halved Manchester City’s lead and felt like they were still hoping for a big shock.

Instead, Kouassi shot the ball away from the net and within seconds O’Reilly fired his debut goal into the far corner at the other end of the pitch.

Those few seconds highlighted the gap in class that still exists between a team struggling for form in the Premier League and a team three places lower that have been winning games for fun.

The magnitude of the defeat, Salford’s biggest as a league club, was a disappointing result for Salford, who had more than 5,000 fans away from home.

Granted, Moor Lane is just five miles from the Etihad Stadium, but Salford have been supported by a larger fan base than the stadium actually holds, which at least shows there is significant local support for a club that has struggled since promotion Attracting viewership of the Football League in 2019.