Richard Arnold has been offered one telling piece of advice by former Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon as he prepares to step into the same role.
Having spent 16 years at Old Trafford, departing executive vice chairman Ed Woodward is set vacate his position at Old Trafford on February 1 — when he will be replaced by his fellow Bristol University graduate.
Arnold has served as group managing director at United for the best part of a decade.
Before that, the 50-year-old headed up the club's commercial team.
Kenyon, meanwhile, served as United CEO at the Premier League giants between 2000 and 2003 — before jumping ship to Chelsea when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich purchased the west Londoners — and he has urged Arnold not to get involved in team and football affairs.
That is one criticism that has been heavily labelled at Woodward throughout his divisive tenure.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Kenyon said: "Richard is a very organised man, the time in the industry has given him huge industry knowledge. The key is don't get involved in [the team]. Get the right people to select the players.
"You have a relationship with the coach, but you never tell the coach what to do.
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"The job of a CEO isn't to pick the team, it's to pick the team which will manage the team and it's to make sure the right amount of money is there, all the functions are running a football club are the best you can get."
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