Two of Manchester United’s key media figures are the latest departures from the troubled club.
Director of media relations and public affairs Andrew Ward and media director Ian Nolan are both to leave, although their departures are not part of the club’s controversial redundancy programme and both will remain in position until their replacements are confirmed.
Ward is best known as the United official who accompanied head coach Ruben Amorim to his news conferences.
George McCaffery will step up and be alongside Amorim at media engagements in the immediate future.
Media chief Ward was first appointed by United in 2019 in the then-new role of head of corporate and commercial communications.
A lifelong United fan, media chief Ward was a journalist at the Financial Times for 19 years, with roles including White House Correspondent and UK News Editor. Immediately prior to the United gig he was a managing director of strategic communications at the global business consultancy firm FTI Consulting.
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Director Nolan, who is also a board member of the Manchester United Foundation charity, is a senior sports executive who has also held senior roles at Yahoo Sports and Motorsport Network, as well as launching and scaling his own ventures in the field.
United returned from their post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong on Saturday with a mixed bag of results. The club last 1-0 to an invitational “ASEAN All Stars” side that had never played together before in Kuala Lumpar before coming from behind to beat Hong 1-0 in a slight return to form. The tour followed the side’s underwhelming 15th place finish in the Premier League, and a 1-0 loss to 16th placed Spurs in the UEFA Cup Final – their only hope of silver wear this season. On the plus side, the South East Asian jaunt did reportedly earn the club around £10m.
They are due to play Leeds in Stockholm in their first pre-season game on 19 July before heading to the United States to take part in a Premier League tournament along with West Ham, Everton and Bournemouth.
