Man Utd chief Arnold 'confronted' by angry staff over Greenwood and Antony sagas
Manchester United chief executive Richard Arnold held a crisis staff meeting last month and was grilled over the club’s handling of a number of issues including the futures of Antony and Mason Greenwood.
The 52-year-old held a meeting over Zoom, with the club’s stance on both players high on the agenda. The Red Devils’ handling of both situations saw the club hierarchy criticised, with some fans protesting against the return of Greenwood in particular.
Some of the criticism came internally as well, with a host of staff members expressing their disgruntlement. According to The Athletic, the meeting was held on September 18, with the bulk of questions reportedly aimed at the club’s treatment of women.
It has been claimed by The Athletic that, after being quizzed on an "unconscious bias within the club", Arnold responded in no uncertain terms that prejudicial or inappropriate behaviour towards female staff members would not be tolerated at Old Trafford.
He said: “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.”
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Another staff member also allegedly expressed their annoyance at the club’s lack of promotion for their women’s team despite the in-house motto of ‘All Red, All Equal’. The disparity between pay for both playing and non-playing members of club staff was also pointed out.
Arnold, it has been claimed, responded by highlighting the strong investment in the club’s women’s team, with staff also being encouraged to view the club's facilities. Meanwhile, he also pointed out that equal pay between members of the men’s and the women’s team was not possible due to the difference in revenue.
Richard Arnold hosted a meeting with staff members last month (Getty Images)However, according to the report, Arnold appeared to avoid the question of a pay gap across the organisation in general. Away from pay, a number of staff were also concerned with welfare when it came to the case surrounding striker Greenwood.
A question asked how United 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”.
Arnold pledged to continue supporting staff members affected and responded that “anybody receiving negative, hateful or abusive contact in any situation shouldn’t be experiencing that”.
Mirror Football approached Manchester United for comment.
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