United announce Richard Arnold as new Chief Executive

Skeppy2099

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Arnold is obsessed with commercial revenue and social media statistics.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Arnold has infinitely better physiognomy than Woodward. From that alone, I can tell right away he's going to be a massive upgrade.
 

bond19821982

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I'm glad that he understands we need someone who knows about the game on the management side. That's the best he can do .
 

lefty_jakobz

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Is this announced because another dividend is due to be paid out this week?
 

Hectic

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Why is his head so square, though?
He's a man who will approach things square on with his square head and get everything squared away for us. He's going to square up our squad the big fecking sasquatch.
 

KiD MoYeS

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Woodward will surely be remembered as one of the biggest failures in the modern history of the club.
 

Pickle85

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He's a man who will approach things square on with his square head and get everything squared away for us. He's going to square up our squad the big fecking sasquatch.
Love Trailer Park Boys
 

sniff99

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Importantly they make the distinction that he's not replacing Woodward who was EVC, he's purely a CEO so no input on the football side other than what a usual CEO would do. Step in the right direction, regardless of the issue about it being Woodward's mate (I don't even know if this is true but have seen it so many times on here I've just accepted it?).
Went to the University of Bristol together and been good pals since. The guy is a prick of a man and it's tragic he is in this position at our club!
 

Chairman Steve

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If he is just looking to primarily handle the business side of Utd and delegate the football side of Utd to the likes of Murtough and Ralf then he’s already making the right moves. Don’t be Woodward and try and think you are some hotshot DOF when your background in football is non existent.
 

Tom Cato

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Can't really give Arnold any criticism before he's been allowed to function in the role, but I am really hoping that ours and Van Der Sars paths cross one day
 

UnitedSofa

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Can't really give Arnold any criticism before he's been allowed to function in the role, but I am really hoping that ours and Van Der Sars paths cross one day
You never know Arnold might actually be better at the role than VDS
 

tomaldinho1

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Went to the University of Bristol together and been good pals since. The guy is a prick of a man and it's tragic he is in this position at our club!
Any basis for why he’s a prick out of interest (bar being friends with a prick of course)?
 

gica_7

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Every employee is his boss's puppet, you don't just walk into someone's company and start driving your own agenda. It doesn't work that way.

Woodward had one thing going for him; he had the Glazers' ear and he is someone who was able to extract more funds from them for transfers than anyone will ever be able to do. What he failed to do was admit his own limitations when it comes to football and defer to experts. If he had brought Luis Campo or Rangnick as DOF circa 2016-18 his tenure would be viewed differently. That was his biggest failure, even though he might have had good intentions to start with.
No, not every employee is his/her boss' puppet. You should have the guts to give opposing views. For Woodward it was obvious for so long that the results on the pitch were unconvincing and there needed to be another approach. Glazer approach to sporting side was not working and he should have opposed it. But, it was clear he was not working for the benefit of the club, but the Glazers. Forget even that, it is obvious Woodward pushed Super League the most and yet he SHOULD have known the reaction to come after.

The sole reason why he did not appoint the names you mentioned is enough. He was out of his debt.
 

Lebowski

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I am hopeful only because anyone is an improvement over Woodward. Terrible terrible management for so long.
It's the hope that kills you mate.

Another accountant who also worked at PWC... he's an old uni mate of Woodward who has been in a c suite role with United since 2008 and appears to be even more focused on the commercial appeal and monetising our fanbase than Woodward was.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
 

Ed9

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Woodward will surely be remembered as one of the biggest failures in the modern history of the club.
Oh he'll be remembered. There's only a 'ward' difference between football and filmmaking.
 

Nou_Camp99

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It's the hope that kills you mate.

Another accountant who also worked at PWC... he's an old uni mate of Woodward who has been in a c suite role with United since 2008 and appears to be even more focused on the commercial appeal and monetising our fanbase than Woodward was.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Rinse and repeat. Glazers won't ever change. More yes men.
 

stu_1992

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Does this guy even control player purchases? I thought we had a DOF for that?

The whole setup stinks of United trying to do the right thing but not having a clue how to go about it. This reshuffle being announced today at an opportune time to distract from the shit show just reinforces that for me.
I don't think he would be actively involved, but I find it hard to believe that a transfer could be completed ingoing or out without the Chief Executive not approving it somewhere along the line. But you know, that's just assumptions on my part.
 

bringbackbebe

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I don't know how good/bad Arnold is, but the benchmark set by Woody is statistically impossible to beat. It would take a gargantuan effort by several of the smartest minds in football, if not the world, to take us from where we were when he took over to where we are. So, I'm very positive about this appointment because the bar is set so low. Wishing Arnold all the best!
 

RUCK4444

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I don't think he would be actively involved, but I find it hard to believe that a transfer could be completed ingoing or out without the Chief Executive not approving it somewhere along the line. But you know, that's just assumptions on my part.
Yeah that’s probably right, I just don’t have any faith that any of this back room re-shuffling will make any difference tbh.

I’ll wait to see any meaningful change and assume they are all cnuts until proven otherwise, sadly.
 

stu_1992

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Yeah that’s probably right, I just don’t have any faith that any of this back room re-shuffling will make any difference tbh.

I’ll wait to see any meaningful change and assume they are all cnuts until proven otherwise, sadly.
Fair :lol: I'm right there with you.
 

Valar Morghulis

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Went to the University of Bristol together and been good pals since. The guy is a prick of a man and it's tragic he is in this position at our club!
The CEO of a major institution being a "prick" is not uncommon, in fact it's almost to be expected.

As long as this prick leaves the football decisions to football people, it's all good.
 

sniff99

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The CEO of a major institution being a "prick" is not uncommon, in fact it's almost to be expected.

As long as this prick leaves the football decisions to football people, it's all good.
That's true but in this industry I believe its key for the CEO and senior management to care about the fans to some degree but the guy sees united fans as "just numbers in the propensity model" so I don't believe it will be all good. He is Ed all over again, I do hope I am wrong though
 

wolvored

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Let's hope it's a John and Darren we have x million to spend on transfers and y on wages. Your in control, don't go over
 

Cheimoon

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Jobs for the boys and another one who knows nothing about football, prove me wrong Arnold
Good thing he's already indicated that he wants to largely leave the football side to others then.

I hope United's cleaning crew knows their football, otherwise the fans will be on their case as well...
 

Freak

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The good thing about him leaving the football side of things to Murtough and Fletcher is that Fletcher now knows what’s going on in the team dressing room since he’s working closely with Rangnick. Expect clear outs for misbehaving and unmotivated players.
 

SmallCaine

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It's the hope that kills you mate.

Another accountant who also worked at PWC... he's an old uni mate of Woodward who has been in a c suite role with United since 2008 and appears to be even more focused on the commercial appeal and monetising our fanbase than Woodward was.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
What is this obsession of having a football guy at the helm as CEO? City ceo is an mba who started in a similar role to woodward and arnold at barcelona, chelsea's ceo is a telecom executive who once headed vodafone, Liverpool's ceo under whom they transformed the club was a video game guy before joining liverpool, CEO's job is to increase commercial appeal and monetise the company not to play football manager in real life whatever woodward might have thought. Even David Gill was an accountant.

The problem with woodward was the idiot had delusions of grandeur and unlike others who understood the fact that they didn't know much about actual football and hired or promoted people who did understand it, he decided he knew best and plodded on crapping his pants every step of the way. Everything we are hearing about arnold makes me think he clearly has learnt what not to do from woodward, ofcourse it could all be bs and he'll be another woodward, but let's atleast give him a chance shall we.
 
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