Manchester United have made a crucial new hire to the club’s operational staff, and he has the right values at the heart of his process.
Ineos took over football operations at Manchester United when they secured their buy-in back in December 2023.
The latest behind-the-scenes move they have made is to hire a new chief operating officer, Ameesh Manek.
BBC Sport reports: “Manek will effectively run United’s Carrington training ground – the base for the daily football operation – with responsibility for travel, security, training facilities and staff management and infrastructure.”
His arrival follows the exit of Manchester United’s previous director of football operations Jim Harrison, with former COO Collette Roche moving into a role focused on the delivery of Manchester United’s new stadium, The Athletic report.
TalkingPoints
What Ameesh Manek said about his time at Brentford
When I first joined Brentford, one of the many pleasant surprises that I had was complete alignment between owner, board, executive, management and staff and players and coach.
Ameesh Manek
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty ImagesWho is Ameesh Manek?
Ameesh Manek had been working in the corporate world including a director role at Barclays Bank, when he decided to move into sport, and took a role on Basketball England’s board in 2012.
He then landed a role at Arsenal in 2015, where his role was first focused on improving the North London club’s academy, and the redevelopment of the training ground.
By 2018 Manek was promoted to head of first team operations, before taking on a role as Brentford chief business officer in 2022. In 2024 he became their chief operating officer. Now he begins at Manchester United.
Ameesh Manek’s top priority
Speaking at a leadership conference earlier this year, Manek explained the importance of a well connected and well-run club from top to bottom.
He explained: “When I first joined Brentford, one of the many pleasant surprises that I had was complete alignment between owner, board, executive, management and staff and players and coach.
“That’s achieved because there’s a sense of purpose.”
Notably, Manek says that ‘community’ is at the heart of everything he wanted to achieve with Brentford.
“We want to maintain what we are calling our ethos, which is a community led club, and that’s the challenge that we really tried to focus on heavily over the last three years, and make sure that everything that we do, all the growth activity that we do, particularly the recruitment of people, is done with culture and values at its heart.”
Manek’s approach will appeal to Manchester United supporters who want the club to retain it’s community identity, which has shown signs of fraying amid redundancies and a smaller staff.
Ineos have been fighting on multiple fronts, to recalibrate United’s finances, plan a new stadium, deliver a new training ground, and overhaul the playing staff.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is adamant the head coach won’t be changing any time soon. But behind the scenes, Ineos have an extra pair of helping hands.