Feature: Giant killing dream of minnows before facing English football elite

In schoolboy language, it's "Roy of the Rovers" stuff where dreams are made in England's cherished FA Cup competition.

   It's one of the iconic contests in football world, famed for its ability to give the chance for small-time teams to become giant killers.

   This weekend's first round kicks off with an intriguing clash involving a team owned by five of Manchester United greats known as the Class of '92.

   Before a sell-out crowd in a game to be screened live on national television on Friday night, Salford City, who perched in the Northern Premier League, the seventh rung of English football, will take on English League Two team Notts County. Their ground in the Kersal district of Salford has a capacity of 1,400. The allocation for Notts County, the team known as the Magpies, is just 400 tickets. Their Meadow Lane stadium in Nottingham holds more than 22,200 football fans.

   It's the first time in Salford City's 75-year history that it has reached the first round of the FA Cup.

   Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs, brothers Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt agreed a deal in March 2014 to take over non-league Salford City. The club's base is just eight kilometres away from the 75,600-seater Old Trafford home of MUFC. But it's a million kilometres away from the wealth and fame of the giants of the Premiership.

   Singapore businessman Peter Lim, who owns Valencia and once tried to buy Liverpool FC has invested in Salford City, snapping up a 50 percent stake. Each of the MUFC five make up the other 50 percent ownership, with 10 percent each.

   The United legends have already devised a long-term plan to steer Salford City to top flight football. It conjures up the prospect of Manchester's two big rivals, United and City, one day being joined by a new upstart from just down the road.

   In a recent interview Gary Neville insisted that if any of the five were in it for the money, they "wouldn't have gone near Salford".

   "This is only ever going to cost you money. There is no way it was ever a financial decision. You put money in and you're investing in players, facilities, people," said Gary N.

   Ahead of the match, his brother Phil Neville commented: "I'm sure it will be a packed crowd under the lights at Moor Lane on Friday night and we're all hoping to be there to cheer the boys on. Notts County will obviously start as favourites, but it's the FA Cup and anything can happen."

   For Salford City it means a 105,000 U.S. dollar bonus for the club for being a televised game, plus the chance to showcase the talents of the part time players across the nation.

   The club's chairwoman Karen Baird told local media: "We fancied a league club and it's great to be on television as well. The lads are made up. Most of them have never played in the FA Cup competition before so it's really exciting."

   The crowning glory in the FA Cup is a place in the final at London's famous 90,000 seater Wembley Stadium, the ultimate theater of dreams.

   The very first FA Cup final in the 1870s attracted just a few thousand spectators. Next May's final will be beamed around the world to around 120 countries and regions, watched by more than half a billion people.

   Salford City will learn on Friday whether their dreams will be kept alive by progressing to the next round.  Endi