Manchester United to appoint first female executive

Collette Roche

Manchester United are set to appoint their first female excutive– according to widespread reports.

The Old Trafford club are to appoint Manchester Airport’s executive director Collette Roche to the position of chief operating officer.

It will be the first time the world-famous club has had a female senior executive.

Ms Roche is currently a Northern Powerhouse board and adviser to the government’s Board of Trade.

She will oversee the management of the club including facilities, Old Trafford, ticketing and running the day-to-day business of the club.

Darcie Glazer is a director at Manchester United but works in a non-executive role.

There are a handful of women in senior positions in professional football in the UK, the most high profile is Karren Brady vice-chairman of West Ham.

The announcement is set to make Ms Roche the most powerful woman in British football.

The Red Devils have been criticised in the past for not having a women’s team.

The club announced last month that they had applied to the Football Association for a full-time women’s side to join the second tier.

Ms Roche graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in business management and spent a year as a management trainee at WH Smith Retail.

She was also a graduate trainee at Ford Motor Company.

At Manchester Airport she has been responsible for more than 26 million passengers annually using Manchester Airport, working with 70 airlines and several government bodies.

Roche will become the highest-paid woman working at Old Trafford and only the fifth woman in the Premier League to take on a boardroom role.

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