Richard Arnold will take over as Manchester United’s new CEO from Ed Woodward at the start of next month, the club said on Thursday.
The Premier League club announced in April 2021 that executive vice-chairman Woodward (50) would resign at the end of the year, just a few months after the club pulled out of a proposed European Super League.
The move will take effect on February 1st, Manchester United Club said in a statement.
Richard Arnold will understand how the close season may be his only chance to make his stint as Manchester United’s most influential executive a success if he studied the history of Ed Woodward, his soon-to-be predecessor.
Why United need a new CEO?
After Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement nine summers ago, Woodward chose David Moyes as United manager, and the club has never really recovered.
Moyes was fired after only 34 Premier League games of a six-year contract.
Woodward’s failed search for the right manager spanned the next seven years, with Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, and Ole Gunnar Solskjr failing to deliver the club’s 21st title.
Before an interim manager, Ralf Rangnick was brought in to help the club regroup.
Need to Learn from the Past
When they did this, the search began for a fifth permanent United official since Ferguson’s departure. Mauricio Pochettino and Brendan Rodgers are two possible candidates, but Arnold must make the proper pick.
If you do that and hire a man who can make United a contender again, all of Woodward’s ire from disgruntled fans will go. If Arnold fails, he will be labelled as a second Woodward.
His first managerial appointment will be terminated, and the pressure for the second will rise.
Arnold, according to Woodward, has learnt from his time in leadership. However, United can be a top-heavy organization, so whether Arnold, Woodward, and Joel Glazer, the executive co-chairman, can delegate more than they can is a question.
How this is Good News for the Fans
Rumours of unhappiness within the United camp have circulated on social media and among United fans, who aren’t happy with some of the information being released, especially reservations about the new interim manager, Ralf Rangnick.
There is widespread agreement that some players should be released from the team. Fans have been through this cycle far too often with the current group of players, who appear to whine more than they perform, prompting criticism from famous personalities like Gary Neville.
It will be interesting to see if these problems can be resolved. Still, it appears that the guy responsible for some of the chaos is on his way out, as United has announced that Ed Woodward will leave on February 1st and will be replaced by Managing Director Richard Arnold as the new CEO of the club.
Instead of Woodward, John Murtough was the one who reacted to Ralf Rangnick’s appointment as United’s new interim manager. Many Old Trafford fans were relieved since they had become bored of the prevailing setup.
Arnold is probably aware that he’ll need help on the football side of things, so handing power over to Murtough and Fletcher can only be viewed as a move in the right way.
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