Murtough outlines priority for United

United are battling to stay ahead of West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham in the tight race to qualify for next season’s Champions League, while continuing to chase silverware in this season’s competition.

Murtough said a top-four finish was “not the ultimate objective for Manchester United, and everyone at the club is focused on challenging for the top trophies”.

United’s football director said a “thorough process” is under way to search for a new permanent manager, who will take charge this summer “with the objective to get us back to challenging for those domestic and European titles”.

Murtough was due to deliver the prepared remarks to analysts and investors later after United announced a seven per cent increase in second-quarter revenues as operations gradually return to normal following the pandemic.

He also highlighted the strong campaigns being enjoyed by our Women’s team, currently sitting fourth in the Women’s Super League under new manager Marc Skinner, and the Men’s Academy Under-18s, who are in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup.

“Overall, while there is potential for further improvement and progress, we do feel that we now have the right structures in place across our Men’s, Women’s and Academy teams to support long-term success and we will continue working relentlessly and investing to achieve that,” said Murtough.

Chief executive Richard Arnold added that delivering titles and trophies was “our central objective as a football club and we are focused on building a winning culture to achieve it”.

Strengthening the role of fans at the heart of the club was another key priority, said Arnold, pointing to the creation of a new Fans’ Advisory Board to facilitate board-level dialogue between the club and fan representatives.

“I want to stress that everyone at the club is aligned on a clear strategy to deliver sustained success on the pitch and a sustainable model off it,” he said.