Manchester United fans were undoubtedly chuffed to hear that their club had appointed a new CEO as new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe proceeds to build his new executive team over the weekend, but there’s already been a dampener on spirits after they dug up some old tweets.
Well, this is awkward.
Having poached the former chief operations officer (COO) directly from rivals Manchester City, Omar Berrada was never going to arrive at Old Trafford with a totally clean slate, but the news on Saturday, 20 January did feel like somewhat of a coup given his success down the road.
However, Man United supporters wouldn’t have been hoping to unearth a selection of unfavourable tweets about their beloved Reds from Berrada barely a day into the job which makes his appointment as CEO feel like less than a match made in heaven.
The first of several unfortunate tweets from Man United’s new CEO.
Yes, it might be over a decade old (as most of them are) but the 45-year-old took aim at the very greatest moment in the club’s history and it’s never going to rub fans the right way, is it?
ADVERTISEMENT
On the other hand, giving him the benefit of the doubt, many people have agreed that Sir Alex Ferguson‘s side was far from their best during the game and that it was merely the nature of the late comeback that was so remarkable.
So, trying to be as objective as you can, perhaps you can brush this one off relatively easily.
ADVERTISEMENT
The only problem is that this is by no means the only one.
Ok, far from the best look for a club’s new CEO but he was already at City during this time, joining as head of international business development before moving on to director of partnership sales; senior vice president group commercial director, then COO and finally a senior role in City Football Group.
He was hardly going to be singing United’s praises whilst employed by one of their closest and most historic rivals.
ADVERTISEMENT
If you were willing to give him even more rope, you could also argue that what he said at the time was bang on: there’s almost no other era that defines the post-Ferguson decline at the club than Moyes’ tenure and we’re sure you’d find most fans would agree.
Yes, while he might not strictly be a Chelsea fan per se, he certainly wasn’t a United fan back in the day and made that abundantly clear on social media. The reaction from most Reds is as you would expect; “Berrada we need to talk about those old tweets big chief” pretty much summed everything up.
While there are plenty of players, managers and staff in general that put their childhood allegiances aside to make it in the professional football business — even Ratcliffe himself has been reported as a Chelsea fan at heart — I guess it comes down to a matter of how many of these you’re willing to brush off.
At the end of the day, any modern-day football fan can be under no illusions that Berrada sees this as anything more than another job which he’s been offered enough money to take.
ADVERTISEMENT
As his LinkedIn reads, he’s been “responsible for managing and optimising group football operations for almost 100 teams across 11 clubs on five continents.” United are quite literally just one in a dozen.
One thing that can be said is that he served as part of one of the most successful executive teams in world football over at the Etihad, having helped take care of the business side of things as they picked up trophy after trophy.
On the other hand, as journalist Simon Bajkowski was quick to point out, “It’s as correct to say that United getting Omar Berrada from City is a coup as it is to say that Berrada is firmly implicated in City’s alleged wrongdoing.”
How Man United’s new CEO navigates the reaction not only to these tweets but the ongoing case against the Blues will factor hugely into how steady/unstable a start to life with the Red Devils — you only have to look at history to see how the likes of Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold fared.
Fans are also keeping a keen eye on the rest of the newly installed INEOS team, with one character in particular posing an interesting prospect for the future of the rebuild.
Featured Images — Hays Worldwide (via YouTube)/The Manc Group
Sport
Manchester City ‘strongly condemn’ racist abuse towards first-team players at Everton
Danny Jones
Manchester City Football Club have released a statement following yet more troubling racist abuse in the Premier League this May bank holiday.
Pep Guardiola’s side faced Everton in a fixture that ended in a 3-3 draw, which could prove pivotal in their pursuit of leaders Arsenal.
Sadly, however, one of the main stories to be taken from the game once again revolves around abuse and discrimination.
Match officials were quickly made aware of racial remarks directed at winger Antoine Semenyo on the day, and, unfortunately, defender Marc Guehi has also been the subject of hateful messaging online in the aftermath of the result.
Sharing a short, but simple and emphatic statement, the club wrote: “Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse directed towards Antoine Semenyo at yesterday’s match.
“We welcome the swift action taken by Everton and the police to identify the individual responsible.
“We are also incredibly disappointed to hear that Marc Guéhi was subject to a series of vile racist social media posts last night.”
They go on to add that they will “continue to offer our full support to both Antoine and Marc and never accept discrimination of any kind in our game.”
Everton themselves have since confirmed that local authorities swiftly identified at least one individual alleged to be responsible for the unacceptable behaviour.
As mentioned in their own post, the culprit is said to have been a 71-year-old man who was quickly flagged by fans and stewards inside the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
While this may be the first incident reported at the Toffees’ new home ground, regrettably, it’s just the latest in a long line of similar cases raised not just in English football but the top flight, specifically.
It goes without saying that we’re sorry to hear that stuff like this is still happening, and we send our strength to all those who continue to be affected by this despicable treatment.
As ever, ‘the beautiful game’ is for everyone and racism has no place in society, let alone football – kick it out once and for all. In other news surrounding Man City, there’s also been some controversy surrounding their upcoming FA Youth Cup final.
Manchester City turn down Old Trafford offer for FA Youth Cup final in favour of Joie Stadium
Danny Jones
Manchester City have turned down an offer from rivals Man United to hold the FA Youth Cup final at Old Trafford.
The Cityzens have instead chosen to host it themselves, only not at the Etihad Campus’ main ground, but rather the Joie Stadium.
Primarily used for City Women and the club’s EDS (elite development squad) and academy teams, the arena was formerly and simply known as The Academy Stadium, was renamed for sponsorship reasons back in 2023, and has seen several updates over the years.
Seating just a fraction of the amount possible across the city at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’, the decision has disappointed many, but has been seen as a shrewd bit of gamesmanship by some, as it could effectively see any home advantage handed over to their opponents.
With this set to be the first Manchester derby FA Youth Cup in four whole decades, many supporters were hoping to go along and back their young teams in big numbers.
Proving somewhat divisive among both fan bases, with each of their under-18s squads having enjoyed promising seasons, to say the least, literally tens of thousands look set to miss out on potential tickets as a result of the announcement.
For context, the last time Man United won the coveted academy tournament – which has often served as a key first piece of silverware won by entire generations of young talent – they welcomed a record youth crowd of 67,492 in May of 2022.
In comparison, even with a sold-out stadium, the Joie would only be able to match around 10% of that figure at most.
That being said, it goes without saying that United fans have been some of the most vocal on social media following the controversial confirmation.
best two youth teams in England meeting in the FA Youth Cup final and playing them in small stadium at MCFC is such a shame. 60,000 would watch this game if it was done right.
On the day, the winning team featured the likes of now fully graduated senior stars like Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, and Joe Hugill, along with several still-rising prospects.
Some of the starlets that lots of fans would have been looking forward to seeing live in a large and historic sporting arena include Jim Thwaites, Noah Ajayi, Kai Rooney, JJ Gabriel on the red half, and the likes of Kylan Midwood, Divine Mukasa, Stephen Mfuni, Reigan Heskey and more in the blue.
Head coach Oliver Reiss (who took over in July 2024) led his City side to the U18 Premier League North title at the start of this month; meanwhile, Darren Fletcher has returned to oversee his young Red Devils after a spell as caretaker manager of the men’s first team.
While tickets were expected to be snapped up rather quickly already for the all-Manc FA Youth Cup final, it’s now set to be a race for followers of both teams to get their hands on their respective allocations.
Danny Jones -
22nd January 2024 
