Who is Richard Arnold? Ed Woodward's replacement at Man Utd

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 1 Feb 2022 04:28 CST
• 3 min read

Ed Woodward has finally left Manchester United.

It was announced on January 6 that Richard Arnold would become Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the club starting on February 1 and that day has now arrived.

Arnold replaces Woodward, who has stepped down from his role as Executive Vice-Chairman.

Arnold said: “I am honoured to have the chance to serve this great club and its fans. I am determined to return that honour in any way I can.”

Joel Glazer, Executive Co-Chairman, said: “I would like to thank Ed for his tireless work on behalf of Manchester United during his nine years as Executive Vice-Chairman and 16 years with the club.

"We are now looking forward to Richard and his leadership team opening a new phase in the club’s evolution, with ambitious plans for investment in Old Trafford, the strengthening of our engagement with fans, and continued drive towards our most important objective – winning on the pitch.”

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So what do we know about Woodward's successor?

Who is Richard Arnold?

Arnold started at Old Trafford during Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure at the club, when he joined as a commercial director.

In that role Arnold oversaw the performance of the club’s sponsorship business, which included retail, merchandising, apparel and the club’s lucrative licensing and digital media business.

After Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, Arnold was then promoted to the role of group manager director at the club, where he was nominated for the SportBusiness International’s Sports innovator of the year list in 2011.

As such, Arnold was eventually brought into the club’s board of directors, where he has often found himself sitting alongside Woodward and chief financial officer Cliff Baty at the club’s quarterly conference calls.

In many ways, Arnold is an administrative operator that has worked his way up the club’s off-the-field roles for the best part of two decades. Now he’ll be tasked with being in charge of the whole thing.