The Sir Jim Ratcliffe revolution at Man United has so far steered clear of axing Erik ten Hag, but there have been sweeping changes across nearly every other department.
Ten Hag is working in tandem with Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, Ineos picks for the sporting and technical director roles at Carrington.
There has been a major makeover in the executive suite too, with Omar Berrada named CEO and Jean-Claude Blanc the latest addition to the board alongside Ratcliffe’s enforcer, Sir David Brailsford.
These men, with input from the Glazer family who remain a powerful albeit diffuse force at Old Trafford, will decide Ten Hag’s future following United’s worst ever start to a Premier League campaign this term.
With former striker turned coach Ruud van Nistelrooy mooted as a caretaker manager and INEOS known to admire Brentford boss Thomas Frank, it appears that a final call on the Dutchman’s future is imminent.
Despite a negative net spend of around £398m across three seasons and a £364.7m annual wage bill at the last count, Ten Hag has repeatedly gestured towards PSR to justify United’s travails on his watch.
PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) is the Premier League’s set of regulations that govern what clubs can spend, with financial losses limited to £105m over a rolling three-year period.
United only narrowly avoided a PSR breach last season thanks to the £40m that the Premier League agreed to waive through as lost income from the pandemic.
Ratcliffe recognises that this is not sustainable and that, while United are still among the biggest revenue generators in world football, their financial growth has slowed to unacceptable levels.
And the 71-year-old United co-chairman is now taking more concrete action to arrest the slide.
United’s appointment of PSG chief now all but confirmed
In September, it was reported that Marc Armstrong, Paris Saint-Germain’s chief revenue officer, was set to become the latest addition to United’s senior leadership team.
No formal announcement has yet been made, but with PSG’s appointment of Victoriano Melero as CEO accompanied with a statement talking of a ‘new era’ at the club, his appointment is now a near certainty.
Armstrong is almost peerless in his field, having worked for the FA, Champions League sales partners TEAM Marketing, the NFL, and the NBA before joining PSG in 2018.
He began life at Parc de Princes as partnerships manager, before being appointed chief revenue officer in June 2022.
It seems likely that Armstrong has been hired on the advice of Jean-Claude Blanc, who also left PSG to join United earlier this year.
Among Armstrong’s many successes at PSG was the partnership with Nike’s Air Jordan brand, which is perceived as a masterstroke in merchandising and has spawned hundreds of copycat attempts from rivals.
Armstrong has also helped PSG break into the top three revenue generating clubs globally, a remarkable achievement given the relatively modest size of the Ligue 1 TV deal compared to the Premier League’s.
He managed to offset that handicap by overseeing an extraordinary rise in commercial and matchday income, with PSG now the biggest earners in the world across both metrics.
With United now locked into a £900m, 10-year deal with Adidas and looking to expand Old Trafford or move to a new stadium entirely, Armstrong’s experience will be fundamental to the INEOS masterplan.
Several years ago, United were bullish in their projection that they could reach £1bn in revenue by 2027.
That is nigh on impossible now, with years of stasis both on the pitch and in the commercial department meaning the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Man City will likely be the first to reach that target.
However, under Armstrong – with a new stadium that could add £150m in revenue, as well as ample opportunities to leverage United’s global brand more efficiently – that milestone may be on the horizon.
Old Trafford, Adidas and the Ten Hag factor: How realistic is United’s £1bn revenue target?
When Ratcliffe bought a 27.7 per cent stake in United for £1.2bn, it was a show of faith in United’s ability to become a 10-figure revenue club.
The interest of private equity firms, who have a nose for the businesses that will generate the biggest returns in five to seven-year cycles, was a further endorsement of that target.
In 2023-24, United’s revenue was £662m, meaning they need to find another £338m before they can hit those heights.
The Old Trafford regeneration or rebuild could eat up close to half of that figure in matchday income alone, while the commercial doors that the project would open could be extraordinary too.
Today, Atletico Madrid have unveiled a deal with Riyadh Air for their stadium naming rights worth north of £24m per year.
As a far bigger brand, United could dwarf that figure for their own naming rights, especially given that it is likely to be for a new stadium which has not yet had a branding partner, unlike Atletico.
Armstrong will also likely oversee the expansion of the Adidas deal into streetwear and lifestyle, which is proving enormously lucrative for some European clubs.
But the elephant in the room is performance on the pitch under Erik ten Hag.
There is evidence that, although United’s brand has insulated them from going backwards financially during a fallow period in terms of major silverware, that will not last forever.
United built their brand off the back of sporting success and it is hard to see how they can continue to grow and monetise their following – particularly overseas – without glory on the pitch.
With the likes of Chelsea and Man City set for a major commercial boon in the expanded Club World Cup in 2025, United will be looking on enviously as they make headway with international audiences.
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