Man Utd owner Avram Glazer meets with ex-chief Ed Woodward as Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes changes

Ed Woodward and Avram Glazer met up ahead of Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final clash against Coventry, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe now in charge of football operations at Old Trafford

Manchester United owner Avram Glazer has been spotted meeting with the club's former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

The Glazers have flown to the UK ahead of United's FA Cup semi-final clash against Championship side Coventry, with heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora posting a picture with Avram on Instagram.

The American businessman has now been seen meeting Woodward at luxury London hotel The Connaught. The pair were joined by lawyer Mitchell Nusbaum, who is a director of the Red Football holding company Malcolm Glazer set up to purchase United in 2005.

Woodward left the club in February 2022 but remains a friend of the family having helped them buy United in the first place. Following his departure, Woodward has taken on a new role with artificial intelligence firm Sentient Sports and also joined the Board of Trustees for the Bloomsbury Football Foundation.

The Glazers, meanwhile, have taken a back seat in the day-to-day running of the club after selling a 27.7 per cent stake in the club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe for £1.3billion. The deal has seen Ratcliffe take full control of football operations and he has already made a host of changes.

Omar Berrada has been poached from rivals Manchester City to become United's new CEO, while Jason Wilcox has joined from Southampton to become the club's technical director. Dan Ashworth is in line to take over as United's director of football, having been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle, but the two clubs are still negotiating compensation.

Ratcliffe is also planning to cut up to a quarter of the club's staff, with United having more employees than any other Premier League club. "We have a lot to learn from our noisy neighbour (City) and the other neighbour (Liverpool)," Ratcliffe admitted in February.

"They are the enemy at the end of the day. There is nothing I would like better than to knock both of them from their perch. He (Sir Alex Ferguson) was the first one who came out with that expression.

"I am in the same place as Alex - 100 per cent. He was fiercely competitive and that is why he was successful. We have to be the same. They (City) have been in a good place for a while, and there are things we can learn from both of them.

"They have sensible organisations, great people within the organisations, a good, driven and elite environment that they work in. I am very respectful of them - but they are still the enemy."

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