Wednesday 31 July 2013 09:11, UK
Manchester United group managing director Richard Arnold believes the manner of this summer's handover of power at Old Trafford underlines the Red Devils' inherent stability.
If there is an unknown about Moyes in terms of operating at the very highest level, his credentials as a manager are solid. Less certain is how Woodward and Arnold will fare in the often bewildering, shark-infested world that is football recruitment, which seems to have different rules to any other sphere of society. Yet Arnold claims Woodward, whose job it now is to negotiate transfers and new contracts, is not quite the rookie everyone imagines him to be. "David (Gill) had been preparing both myself and Ed in quite some detail about the way it all works," said Arnold. "Ed has been particularly well briefed about the operations of how we transact with players, both the fantastic ones we already have and if there is an opportunity to buy. "As befits a man of his nature, David did a fantastic job in the nurturing he has given us, the preparation and handover. "Laying the flight path to the runway is all about preparation. "Everyone is well aware of the change. But from the inside, in the context of having to make the change, it has been fantastically well done."
