He Manchester United announced this Wednesday the departure of its executive president, Richard Arnold, a few days after the English club confirmed the purchase of 25% of its shares by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, owner of Ineos.
Arnold, who joined United in 2007 and was the club’s chief operating officer from 2013 until February 2022, when he replaced Ed Woodward as chief executive, was recently in charge of the recruitment of Erik Ten Hag and the financial agreements with Adidas and with Qualcomm, main jersey sponsor starting next season.
However, the manager was criticized for how he handled the Mason Greenwood case, whom he tried to reinstate into the team once the charges of attempted rape and assault against the player were dropped. After the torrent of criticism, he decided to back down and let the player leave, who ended up at Getafe on loan.
The club’s chief financial officer, Patrick Steward, will take over as interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is appointed.
If this decision is going to require Ratcliffe’s opinion, it will have to be made between six and eight weeks after the purchase is confirmed, as this is the time the Premier League will need to validate it.
Ratcliffe arrives
The departure of this 52-year-old manager comes at a time when the founder of Ineos, Jim Ratcliffe, is about to become a minority shareholder in the club for 1.5 billion pounds (1.7 billion euros or US$1.844 million). .
The BBC stated that the transfer to Ratcliffe of 25% of the shares belonging to the Glazer family should materialize during the current break of the English championship for national team matches, so it is possible that the operation will be confirmed this week.
Waiting for the arrival of the 71-year-old millionaire and until the end of December, “Patrick Stewart will be the interim CEO, in addition to maintaining his duties as a director“, indicated the club in a statement, in which it noted that it will open “a hiring process to find a new CEO”.
With information from EFE and AFP
Source: Gestion
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