Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has rubbished claims that sporting director Dougie Freedman could move to Manchester United when Sir Jim Ratcliffe steps into the boardroom as minority stakeholder.
The British billionaire is waiting for his deal to buy 25% of Manchester United to be approved by the Premier League, but chief executive Richard Arnold has already announced that he is leaving the club at the end of the year.
We fully expect football director John Murtough to follow him out the door, with former AS Monaco transfer guru Paul Mitchell most likely to arrive in some capacity.
There has been other names linked with a move to Old Trafford, including Freedman, who is supposedly a recommendation from Sir Alex Ferguson.
The former striker had two spells with Palace during his playing days and he is currently seen as a respected sporting director. He has been working at Selhurst Park as sporting director since 2017.
Parish, 58, was pressed on Freedman potentially leaving for United by Gary Lineker when he appeared on the latest Rest is Football podcast. The Palace chairman said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News: “You’d have to get inside the minds of those people, wouldn’t you? There’s certainly I don’t think been any conversations, but it’s very flattering for the club.
“Totally [club gets used to interest]. You guys live in the world where 50 per cent of the stories told in the media are true and 50 per cent aren’t, it’s just we don’t know which ones.”
Parish added: “He’s been really important for us. If you’re going to do this, you’ve got to do it with people that you like to start with as there’s so much pressure sometimes.
“He’s a brilliant guy. He was the second manager I had at the club and he was instrumental in us getting promoted. If you want to watch the Amazon documentary, you will see the whole story about that.
“He’s been instrumental. He got us promoted and he’s got a real affinity to the club.
“Dougie works really hard and we’ve signed some really good players. Most importantly, with the transfer window, which is probably the hardest part of the job, it’s fun being involved in that and doing all that with him. The fact he’s being linked to clubs like that shows we’re doing the right thing.”
Get the latest Manchester United news, opinion, interviews and exclusive features with the Stretty Newsletter – Ad Free! Kick off your afternoon with the Stretty News verdict on all matters Manchester United.
