Manchester United announced Richard Arnold will leave his role as CEO, bringing the curtain down on a shortlived appointment.
Despite Manchester United’s official claims Richard Arnold has ‘stepped down’ as chief executive, it is glaringly apparent he has been shoved out the door by the Ineos-led minority takeover of the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to appoint his own chief executive to lead Manchester United forward, and Arnold’s exit clears the path.
It’s a welcome development, giving United a semblance of a fresh start which we hoped for after Ed Woodward’s overdue exit, and did not get.
Richard Arnold should never have been appointed
Let’s rewind to late 2021. Ed Woodward finally stepped down, after his embarrassing role in the Super League saga. But he should have gone way before then. If you want a reminder of his incompetence, revisit his awful tenure with our list of 10 moments which defined Ed Woodward’s time in charge of Manchester United.
And then, who did we get as his replacement? The Glazers appointed Woodward’s right-hand man, head of commercial, Richard Arnold. Was this some kind of sick joke?
Arnold was the man who boasted on a conference call that Manchester United’s signing of Odion Ighalo gained helped Manchester United outrank Donald Trump on social media, via iNews, blind to the fact that the discussion was not for positive reasons. But it showed you the commercial-focused mindset of the man.
He had also attracted the ire of Manchester United fans by telling the Associated Press: “No one in the world is happier than me with the phenomenal success he is bringing”, when discussing trophyless coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian was fired months later.
And while it was Woodward who was mocked for tying up noodle sponsors for Manchester United back in 2014, it was actually Arnold who announced these, per The MEN.
Manchester United fans feared the ‘new CEO’ was no different to the old one.
In fact, Arnold did try to do things differently. Unlike Ed Woodward, who had no self-awareness of his deficiencies and thought he could run the football side of the club, Richard Arnold was happy to defer responsibilities and take more of a backseat, and this should be applauded.
The problem was he was partnered on the football side with John Murtough, another internal promotion.
And that is where the problems originated. When Ed Woodward was sacked, the owners should have launched a search for the best candidate, interviewing potential CEOs far and wide, with proven success operating at big clubs. They didn’t. Instead they chose to promote Arnold, who had no track record as a CEO. It was the easy appointment, and summed up the Glazers’ disinterest in turning Manchester United back into a powerhouse.
We wrote at the time in 2021: “Getting rid of Ed Woodward is overdue. And it was worthy of celebration. But now United are set to appoint Woodward-lite with Arnold taking his position. Instead of making a forward-thinking move, the Glazers are after more of the same. This isn’t renovation, it’s a new coat of paint.”
Arnold may have been highly qualified in the commercial aspects of the football club, the best even, but when it came to the football side of it, this simply did not matter.
Immediately Sir Jim Ratcliffe has identified this as an issue and is looking at an overhaul, with a proven option.
Jean-Claude Blanc tipped to succeed Arnold
Ratcliffe and Ineos are shaping up to appoint Frenchman Jean-Claude Blanc as the new CEO, The Times first reported last month.
This is the club doing what should have been done originally, pre-Woodward and certainly pre-Arnold, looking for a ‘best in class’ appointment with a proven track record.
Blanc has experience at Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, guiding the Italian side through troubled times and setting up league winning dynasties at both clubs. There is a huge challenge ahead at Manchester United, but in Blanc, the club would be bringing in a proven winner who has been there and done it, and understands what it takes. In comparison, Arnold never had a chance.
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