It is now almost two months since Manchester United faced an internal revolt after news emerged that the club’s chief executive, Richard Arnold, had communicated to his executive leadership team how the club was planning to bring back Mason Greenwood.
Ultimately, United did not follow through on the plan, instead opting to send Greenwood on loan to Spanish side Getafe following a backlash from politicians, charities and supporters. In September, Arnold organised an all-staff meeting, in which he sought to address the concerns that had spiralled among staff.
During the peak of the Greenwood episode, some staff members felt shamed by their association with the club, while others considered their positions and discussed how to organise a strike in the workplace. Former United captain Gary Neville described the club’s process as “horrible” and said the club lacked “authoritative leadership”. Rachel Riley, a prominent celebrity United supporter and a host on popular British daytime TV game show Countdown, said she believed Arnold should consider his position.
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It has been an immensely exacting period for those at Old Trafford and Arnold was particularly stung to discover that staff members did not feel they could challenge the status quo at United.
Greenwood now plays for Getafe on loan (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
The all-staff meeting took place on September 18 and, for over an hour, Arnold heard the scale of dissatisfaction that had gripped the rank and file. Employees were invited to submit questions anonymously to eliminate fears of retribution against individuals. Arnold could at least start with a positive — informing staff members that their annual bonuses would be landing at the end of that month.
As you would expect in a vast organisation, different staff members had different priorities.
The Athletic has previously reported on Arnold’s responses to questions posed about the club’s glacial strategic review process, which may or may not lead to a sale, as well as his view that United are “chasing down” Manchester City, who have won the past three Premier League titles and last season did the treble by also lifting the FA Cup and European Cup.
The bulk of the meeting, however, was consumed by searching questions about United’s handling of matters relating to women.
These centred on the cases of Greenwood and winger Antony. The latter was recruited from Dutch club Ajax in a €100million (£86.5m; $105.9m at current rates) deal in the summer of 2022 but faces allegations of assault by his former partner, Gabriela Cavallin, which the footballer denies. Police authorities both in his native Brazil and in Manchester continue to make inquiries but have not charged or arrested Antony, who United gave leave to address the allegations before announcing his return to the fold on September 29.
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The staff concerns aired in the meeting went beyond the high-profile cases of two famous footballers and deeper into the perceived structural imbalances against women within the organisation.
Take, for example, the following question from a female employee:
“I have personally witnessed uncomfortable behaviour from male employees at this club to my female colleagues. I’m also very aware of comments that have recently been made public, as well as behind closed doors, by senior executives that suggest an unconscious bias within the club. How can you ensure female staff are respected and valued across a club? And what process is in place for female employees to speak up if they feel uncomfortable by the actions or comments of certain members of staff?”
Arnold took questions from staff (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Arnold replied: “Any abusive, disrespectful or sexist language is not acceptable by anyone at this club. And anybody affected by that should report instances immediately, either to their line manager, to HR or an executive leadership team member.”
Another employee argued the club do not live up to their motto of All Red, All Equal, which is the tagline of an in-house campaign to promote equality and diversity, when it comes to the level of promotion for their women’s team, while also saying the motto is not borne out within United’s “operations and directorate” due to a gender pay gap.
The question read:
“So our women’s team is excelling. It’s our first time in theChampions League this year. Last season, we reached the FA Cup final and 2nd place in the Women’s Super League. However, there is limited promotion for the team and the pay gap which reflects the working staff environment as well. The “All Red, All Equal” motto does not exist within our club’s operations and directorate. Is there a plan to move forward with the quality both on and off the pitch?”
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Arnold countered: “The facts and actions in this area speak for themselves. We’ve invested strongly in the players, staff and facilities for the development of our women’s team and that is reflected in the results on the pitch. And I would encourage everybody to take the opportunity to go and view the facilities that have been built this summer for our women’s team. We’re competitive with or better than almost all of the other leading clubs across Europe and we’re committed to continuing this.
“Investment levels have been significant in the women’s team and that’s something we’ve been happy and proud to do. So I think that’s something that we’ve walked the walk and delivered on our actions.
“The subject of equal pay for players is one that gets raised a lot. And I think the reality currently, in terms of where the economics are of the women’s game, in terms of the TV revenue, the ticketing revenue and the participation fees for competitions, are such that an attempt to equalise pay would result in a collapse in the women’s game because the revenues aren’t there in total, or indeed for the women’s game to support that situation.
“But our job is to grow the revenues so it can be something that is supported over future years. And we’re at the forefront of that. And again, paying and investing amounts commensurate or better than the leading clubs across Europe.”
While Arnold explained the financial argument for a pay gap between the men’s and women’s football teams, he appeared to avoid the question of one more broadly across the organisation.
United’s 2022 gender pay gap results found that, if professional players’ salaries were discounted, women’s average hourly pay was 36.9 per cent less than men’s and average bonuses were 22.7 per cent less. The median gender pay gap — the hourly pay rate of the middle woman compared to the middle man when set out from highest to lowest — was equal.
Chief executive officer Collette Roche, one of three women on United’s executive leadership team, said in the report: “Manchester United remains firmly committed to creating an environment in which women are encouraged and enabled to reach their full potential, and properly recognised and rewarded for their contribution to the club.”
With regards to the Greenwood case, however, the impact on staff was underlined when Arnold was asked how the club are “dealing with all the negative, hateful and disgusting abuse towards the women’s team, the female members of staff, women in general on social media, as well as emails in our public-facing inboxes and in-person at the matches from fans as a result of you saying in your statement that you found Mason not guilty”.
Antony is now back playing for United (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arnold told the questioner that “anybody receiving negative, hateful or abusive contact in any situation shouldn’t be experiencing that” and pledged that the club will support staff members who report such instances.
He also insisted United have “taken a lot of learnings” from the Greenwood case.
The executive said: “The first is around continuing to strengthen the education and welfare support to players to make sure at the front of mind is promoting healthier relationships and behaviours. We’ve also reviewed our process for dealing with allegations to make sure that we have a robust and consistent framework for the future.
“The other learning we’ve taken is to listen to feedback from domestic abuse charities and other groups and, in particular, Women’s Aid. And we’ve worked very closely with them for a period of time to make sure that the language we use is sensitive to the perspectives of abuse survivors who may not be at all involved in the case that we’re referring to but find, understandably, the situation very sensitive and we’ll continue that engagement going forward.”
The United CEO was also asked if the club knew about allegations around Antony’s prior conduct before signing him.
Arnold said: “As with every player, we conducted detailed due diligence, including the help of specialist third-party agencies externally. Police reports remain confidential to the person submitting them to the police in Brazil. So people alleging (we knew) are not aware of how the process works in Brazil.
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“And our due diligence did include checking legal records in Brazil, as it does for players that we bring in. So we did due diligence. This was not highlighted and indeed, the allegation in which people say that the police report was made was withdrawn at the time. And again, there’s coverage of that online and I won’t go into any more detail. So it’s absolutely not the case that we were aware of this and covered it up.
“On Mason Greenwood, there was no suspicion of violence or domestic abuse (before the allegations). The young man had some queries around his life choices. Some of those are high profile. So, for example, (the incident) with the England team in Iceland, many of you will be aware, but those are very different to the allegations that led to his suspension. And equally, a lot of effort was made to support Mason as he made the transition to the first team to make sure that he was responsible for his decisions and behaviour and those were reflective of the club.”
Arnold also emphasised the club’s desire to improve the level of education provided to players.
He said: “Equality, diversity, inclusion and the abhorrence of violence are all incredibly important values to the club. And to be associated with this was extremely uncomfortable and always will be. So definitely we’re going to invest heavily in strengthening education welfare across the club in terms of making sure that we really communicate those values and educate and communicate, make sure they’re embedded.
“That having been said, academy director Nick Cox and our academy leadership have taken this issue seriously for many years. This is something that, long before the Mason Greenwood case, we had plans in place in terms of our education and everyone here will have seen the work that we did in terms of hatred, where we address some of the ideas around misogyny.
“It’s an important value for this club and that predates any of the issues that have arisen and we hold those values so dear. That makes this such an uncomfortable issue.”
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Arnold reiterated to United staff that he wants them to speak up.
He said: “Certainly I would hope that anybody I’ve met or spoken to would know that I really like a challenging and questioning environment. I like that we think about what we’re doing and certainly, anyone who’s engaged with me, I would hope would have experienced that.
“I want people to feel pride and ownership in what they’re doing and that they’re taking the decisions. And if ever there’s anything they don’t like, to speak up, raise your hand and we’ll deal with it.”
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(Top photo: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
