Manchester United showed a signal of intent under the Ineos regime with a headline-making CEO appointment.
Manchester United may have struck gold with the club’s choice of chief executive, poaching Omar Berrada from Manchester City.
For all City’s recent success, Berrada’s decision to leave them behind is another illustration of the immense pulling power at Old Trafford.
It is also a very positive sign, with United able to attract one of the best in the business, with this appointment a very positive sign for the future.
Manchester United statement
Manchester United issued a club statement on Saturday night confirming Berrada’s appointment as CEO.
And the very opening line of this statement was very revealing about the way Manchester United have been operating over the past decade.
The statement led with: “The Club is determined to put football and performance on the pitch back at the heart of everything we do.”
Damning of the Glazer regime
This statement said everything about Manchester United’s lack of focus from the top. It clearly was not written by Joel Glazer, and looked to have Ineos‘ imprints all over it. The Glazers probably did not even look at it.
Under the Glazers, and specifically with former chief executive Ed Woodward, the focus at Manchester United was on the commercial side of the club, not on the football.
Woodward told an investor call, quoted via Goal in 2018: “Very simply and candidly, playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial size of the business.”
Under Woodward, United were a disaster, falling from a dominant force to a shadow of the team which once helped the club become a financial titan.
Woodward’s successor, Richard Arnold, was promoted from his role as head of commercial, which showed how the Glazers saw the CEO position.
Former boss Louis van Gaal even warned Erik ten Hag away from United for this very reason, pointing out, via The Guardian: “Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He would be better going to a football club.”
This is something Ineos and Manchester United want to fix, and it has been at the forefront of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s early strategy.
He has even said he is investing in the club for sporting reasons and not financial ones, and taking that at face value, gives United fans plenty of reasons to be encouraged.
Berrada’s appointment is a positive sign, and the opening 20 words of United’s statement further underline their determination to right the wrongs of the past decade.
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