"Someone else will be doing my job in 30 years and I hope that they will say that I did a good job,” Richard Arnold, Manchester United’s new chief executive, told 'United We Stand' in 2015 when he was the managing director.
“I try and think long term, about what the club stands for, but I also know that no one person is bigger than the club, that the club will always go on. I’m proud that people like Sir Alex, Sir Bobby and even my predecessors, people like David Gill or Danny McGregor, still come to the club. They all want to help, to pass on advice.”
Arnold, 51, had the second most prominent job behind long-time friend Ed Woodward. He has now been promoted to the club’s CEO effective from 1 February, with Woodward departing, though the latter will sit on two board meetings at the end of this season as part of a football governance role and to help smooth the transition.
In his previous role, Arnold had no sway in any football decisions. When asked if the current levels of spend on players would continue, replied: “You’ll have to ask Ed that.” Woodward also maintained that he made no football decisions, but the perception was that he did. Arnold needs to be clear what he will be doing in this area.
Arnold’s former job was principally about bringing money into United via commercial deals. United’s commercial revenue increased from £40 million to £300m within a decade. A tough negotiator, his responsibilities were increased to looking after the stadium - which lacked investment and was fraying - and ticketing.
Arnold engaged with fans after years of poor communication between the club and fan groups, he engaged with staff and former players and has been a regular at former player events, though communication with media has been patchy under Woodward.
The new chief executive is heavily into using the social media metrics from United’s vast global following but stressed: “The players are signed on sporting merit and sporting merit alone. The players also see a massive increase in their social media numbers when they come here. That would be mentioned to them when we’re trying to sign them, but we want them to come here to win things first and foremost.”
He pushed heavily for United to have an app which has been a success, he’s big on security too. A few hours after the 2015 Paris attacks, he was on the phone in the middle of the night to ramp up security around Old Trafford.
Arnold grew up in England’s north west. His father was originally from the rugby league town of Widnes, but the family lived just outside Chester. Arnold grew up watching Widnes rugby league club and travelled to games home and away with his dad – once his father had stopped playing.
"I lived through the glory years – and plenty of tough ones,” he said. “I wasn’t built for football and played rugby myself, union mostly. I really enjoyed that and stopped playing when I joined United. I played rugby all over, including the Premier League in South Africa for two seasons. It was an amateur sport, but even if it wasn’t, I was never going to make a living doing it. I also played for Wrexham and Rosslyn Park and enjoyed it a lot.”
Arnold, who has always been based at Old Trafford often the most senior person of all the staff present because Woodward was usually in United’s London offices, inherits a tough job.
United are seventh in the table, playing poorly and having sacked manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, into whom they’d invested into a long-term plan, in November. Most of his coaches followed him, despite interim manager Ralf Rangnick wanting them to stay. Arnold, like Woodward was supposed to, will have no direct say in football decisions, but will be the boss of those who do.
His background is accountancy which will hardly endear him to fans, though he also went into running technology businesses.
"I took one through to auction and sold it,” he said. “A second one was bought out – we’d had our international headquarters in Gatley [close to Manchester]. I’d known Ed [Woodward] a long time. We’d trained at the same accountancy firm and started work on the same day. We went off in different directions but stayed friends. When Ed came on to the United board, the club wanted someone to grow the commercial business and Ed brought me on board to do that as sponsorship director. It has been good, really good. I can’t say I’ve loved every minute of it, but it has been a good time."
Woodward has departed after presiding over an inglorious era for United when the team didn’t win one Premier League title during his eight years in the top job, or even challenge for the title. Woodward maintains he was devastated when Sir Alex Ferguson said he was going just as he took up his new job but accepts that player recruitment was nowhere near as good as it should have been. Manchester City have dominated during Woodward’s stewardship.
United’s owners – the Glazer family based in the United States – remain unpopular with fans after their controversial and highly leveraged 2005 takeover of the club, but United’s business model is fundamentally sound and the club have one of the biggest wage bills in world football. An issue is that United’s domestic rivals are now far wealthier. United maintain that, unlike rivals, they have to work for every penny they bring in.
"As a business model, United’s model has always been to stand on our own two feet, not to rely on anybody else, to be economically strong and to allow us to translate that strength off the pitch into having the best talent on it,” Arnold said. “I think that fans understand how important the commercial business is to our success. I’m proud that we’ve done well with the sponsorship and that we can bring players in that other people can’t and have a really strong club.
"What hasn’t changed is the desire to win trophies, to be the best football team in the world, to develop our own young players and give them a chance to succeed in the team, and the unparalleled support of our fans.”
The support is still there, the success is not. Arnold will be judged by fans on the trophies United win and the next managerial appointment is vital. We could have said the same thing in each of the last eight years. Arnold’s got a tough job and a thick skin. He’ll need it.
