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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Casey Evans

John Murtough shows route to Manchester United success but must back up words with actions

Manchester United's investor call for the second quarter of this year on Tuesday was the first of Richard Arnold's tenure as CEO.

For the first time in a while, fans could take cautious optimism from the meeting.

No United fans want to get too invested, however. We've been burnt before by the words of Ed Woodward and disappointed when he failed to deliver.

"We can do things in the transfer market that other clubs can only dream of. Watch this space," was the infamous Woodward war cry, but increased spending without a clear strategy to back it up only led to failure and United falling further behind the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

It seems Arnold wants to try and do things right this time, based on his initial comments.

"We have a clear vision and we are implementing a strategy to win with an empowered leadership team to drive that forward," he said.

"We will foster a culture of excellence through a world-class football environment, while strengthening the role of fans at the heart of the club and harnessing the power of Manchester United to make a positive impact on people, the environment and society."

Yet the person that fans were most interested to hear from was John Murtough - United's director of football, who will be leading the club's recruitment strategy for the foreseeable future.

Murtough said: "We are now conducting a thorough process for the appointment of a new permanent manager who will take charge this summer, with the objective to get us back to challenging for those domestic and European titles."

MEN Sport understands that Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag are the two frontrunners for the role in the dugout and that United hope to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's permanent successor before the end of the season, but the issues at the club do not just stop with managers.

Both Pochettino and Ten Hag will need to be supported by signings that are correctly scouted and match the manager's tactics and ambitions and the club needs to modernise from top to bottom to close the gap with United's rivals.

Murtough also mentioned the appointment Dominic Jordan as head of data science, saying it would help "bring together and drive forward the club’s use of data to help players and staff deliver success on the pitch".

Overall it seems United have committed to taking a huge leap in the right direction to try and correct the mistakes of the past.

However, now more than ever, they need to stick the landing or face falling into the abyss that both Liverpool and Arsenal previously found themselves in, struggling for years to claw themselves out.

What are your ambitions for Manchester United next season? Follow our United On My Mind writer Casey Evans on Twitter and get involved in the discussion in the comments section below.

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