Newcastle lists Collette Roche, the Manchester United chief operating officer, as one of the candidates for their soon-to-be vacant chief executive role.
It has been a busy year for Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and everyone at Manchester United.
As co-owner, Ratcliffe is forcing changes across the board, including over 450 cut jobs on top of season ticket price rises.
To make matters worse for United fans, it’s been a dismal campaign that saw Erik ten Hag sacked, meaning Ruben Amorim had to come in and attempt to improve the situation.
However, United are sitting 13th in the Premier League, and the only way they can qualify for the Champions League is by winning the Europa League outright.
Ineos is expected to make more changes at United over the coming months, but keeping hold of key officials may be out of their hands.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Newcastle consider Collette Roche for chief executive role
Newcastle are in the process of searching for a new chief executive to lead the club after it emerged last September that Darren Eales would be stepping down.
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Eales has been diagnosed with blood cancer but is continuing his role until a successor is found.
According to The Telegraph, United’s COO, Collette Roche, is among the candidates after being linked with a similar role at Everton before the appointment in March of Angus Kinnear.
Roche has had a more hands-on role in football operations since the exit of Dan Ashworth as sporting director in December. She has been involved in the revamp of Carrington training complex as well as United’s new £2 billion stadium project.
On top of that, Roche works with the board of the Manchester United Foundation.
The report adds that there is no suggestion that Roche, who has been working at Old Trafford since 2018, is being pushed out. It is worth noting that she is the sole survivor from the executive leadership team from the club’s previous regime – prior to Ratcliffe taking a 28.94% stake in the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe threatens to walk from Man Utd
Ratcliffe knew about the hostility that exists towards the Glazer family when he agreed a deal with the American family.
The last thing he wants is to be dragged into a cauldron of abuse with the Glazers – which, in the long run, will be difficult given their involvement in United as majority owners.
In an interview with the Sunday Times two weeks ago, Ratcliffe said he doesn’t mind being unpopular, but he would walk away from United if he gets “abused” by fans in the same way the Glazer family have.
The 72-year-old said: “I mean, I can put up with it for a while,” Ratcliffe said. “I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make at the moment.
“If I draw a bit of the ire, I can put up with that. But I’m no different to the average person. It’s not nice, particularly for friends and family.
“So, eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, look, enough’s enough guys, let somebody else do this.
“They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers. They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the stick.
“We bought in and I haven’t seen them since. It’s, ‘thank you, Jim, you’re doing a really good job’.
“At the moment, I don’t have security, I don’t have to walk around like that. But it would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun.”