Van der Sar should be targeted as Old Trafford chief executive
Is every bit as important as next manager and Glazers need to be scouring externally for the right fit
⮞appointment
Manchester United’s search for a new manager, or rather their hunt for another interim to replace a caretaker before the task of finding a permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, should not be the only recruitment process being undertaken at Old Trafford.
If best practice was being applied at United, the Glazers would also be scouring externally for a new chief executive and, on the evidence of the past 8½ years since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill left in tandem, it is an appointment that should be considered every bit as important as the next manager.
Richard Arnold, United’s group managing director, is in line to succeed the departing Ed Woodward as executive vice-chairman.
Woodward’s exit date has yet to be fixed, but it would be symptomatic of the tunnel vision, cosiness and cronyism at Old Trafford if the prospect of an outside perspective was not seriously explored.
United’s American owners would have nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain from conducting a thorough interview process.
What, for example, would be the downside of at least hearing what Edwin van der Sar (right), the burgeoning chief executive of Ajax and a highly respected figure within the European game, had to say? Hell, for a club obsessed with this “cultural reboot” and appointing people who “know the place”, he even ticks the box of being a former player, and a very good one at that.
That is the approach most businesses chronically underperforming in their core field would undertake. The question is whether the Glazers would empower that person to drive change. Even if Van der Sar or others were able to get in front of the Glazers and share their vision for the club, maybe they would need seriously convincing there would be the will to implement new ideas.
This is not to disparage Arnold. There has been a rush to identify him as a Woodward clone – both went to the University of Bristol and worked together at Pricewaterhousecoopers, along with another United employee, director of football negotiations Matt Judge, also later Woodward’s colleague at JP Morgan, the investment bank that oversaw the Glazers’ takeover at Old Trafford.
But Arnold, formerly United’s commercial director, has had little to no involvement in football operations, at least until recently as the handover looms, and whatever suspicions fans may hold, it is an assumption to say he would not bring a fresh perspective.
Off the pitch, as well as on it, United look in real need of a clear, cohesive strategy that inspires progressive, joined-up thinking and delivers results, and not just financially. Van der Sar is presiding over just that at Ajax: a well-run club on the commercial and football side with a respected and connected director of football, Marc Overmars, and an astute head coach in Erik ten Hag, who plays attacking, winning football while promoting youth. There could be additional fringe benefits to drafting in someone not associated with the existing regime, too. The Glazers have demonstrated a desire to atone for their role as a ringleader in the failed European Super League plot. They are in talks with supporters about the creation of a fans’ share scheme and a fan advisory board, steps that could give the supporter base a greater say in how the club is run. The appointment of Van der Sar or another respected external figure could help improve United’s tarnished image in the wider football world.