Why Sir Jim Ratcliffe will hand Ed Woodward big pay-day despite Manchester United exit

Former Manchester United vice-president Ed Woodward and ex-chief executive Richard Arnold are set for a financial windfall once the investment of Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ratified.

Ratcliffe completed a deal to acquire 25% of United on Christmas Eve, a transaction valued at £1.2bn, with the British billionaire and founder of petrochemicals firm INEOS to be handed oversight of the football operations at Old Trafford following the agreement with the majority owners, the Glazer family.

It was an investment deal that took a year to come to a conclusion, with the Glazers having opened them up to a potential minority of majority deal back in November 2022.

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The deal has yet to be ratified by the Premier League, although that is expected to be a formality, and when it is rubber-stamped there are a number of United executives, past and present, who will do well out of the deal, as well as the firm responsible for leading the search for investment and negotiating on behalf of the club, Raine Group, who led on the sale of Chelsea to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in early 2022.

Woodward, who left the club in February 2022, will find himself $4.5m (£3.55m) richer following the deal, after filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States provided details of the investment process and eventual deal.

United have both Class A and Class B shares in the football club, with the Class B shares carrying greater voting privileges than Class A.

According to previously filed accounts, Woodward holds 551,486 Class