(Reuters) – Manchester United will appoint managing director Richard Arnold as its new chief executive officer in the coming days, effectively replacing executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward as the soccer club’s boss, Sky News reported on Monday.
A spokesperson for the English Premier League club, which has not had a CEO since David Gill’s departure in 2013, declined to comment on “speculation” when contacted by Reuters.
The appointment would mark a second major organisational change in as many months for the club, after it replaced manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last month following a catastrophic slump in form this season.
Arnold, an accountant by training, was previously the club’s commercial director until 2013. His appointment would be accompanied by a number of changes to the way the company is run, although it wasn’t expected to result in a formal restructuring, Sky reported, citing an anonymous source.
Woodward is expected to remain at Manchester United in a consultancy role for a number of months, the report added.
Woodward has been credited with the club’s commercial success in striking global sponsorship deals, but fans have opposed its intention to be part of the breakaway European Super League (ESL), which failed to take off.
In April, United had said Woodward would step down at the end of the year, in the wake of the ESL crisis, which had angered fans and the European governing body UEFA.
The company could announce Arnold’s appointment to the New York Stock Exchange, where it is traded, within days and possibly as early as Monday, Sky said.
(Reporting by Sinchita Mitra and Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
