Who is Roger Bell: The INEOS Chief Financial Officer taking the role at Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester United have announced their latest round of executive changes at the top level and they are the biggest ones yet.

Club’s interim CEO Patrick Stewart and Chief Financial Officer Cliff Baty are leaving with immediate effect.

While Stewart’s role will be held in an interim capacity by Jean-Claude Blanc till July 13, which is when Omar Berrada joins, the replacement for Baty has come out of the blue.

United have confirmed that Roger Bell will take over as the club’s new CFO in a name that has come out of nowhere.

So, who is Roger Bell and what can United fans expect from the latest new appointment to the top post at Old Trafford? We take a look-

Who is Roger Bell?

Roger Bell is the Chief Financial Offer at INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s umbrella company that has INEOS sports as a division under it.

He graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Finance and Accounting in 2002 but has been the INEOS CFO since January 2001.

First headquartered in the United Kingdom, United States, and Switzerland, he moved permanently to the Swiss headquarters in December 2010.

It is unclear if he is still in the post of CFO though, as his LinkedIn profile shows that he is but his status update five months ago said he planned to retire “next month”.

It could be a case of him being persuaded to stay on in some capacity to see through United’s transition or even the role at United being his sole responsibility going forward instead of taking on a wider remit at INEOS.

He has been with INEOS for the past 40 years in different roles so he comes with a lot of experience on the financial side of things.

It is arguably the most important appointment since Sir Jim Ratcliffe came in since, on paper, he was supposed to be in control of only the sporting matters.

Changing the CFO from a Glazer man to an INEOS individual says that Sir Jim’s influence is already extending beyond sporting matters.

It remains to be seen how involved INEOS get in that side of things but sporting matters would always go hand in hand with financials so Roger Bell will have his hands full with United.

The club is perilously close to FFP and PSR rules and a pivotal window awaits. The role of a Chief Financial Officer doesn’t include actually spending money on transfers and deciding the budget but the overall monetary health of the club, which has finally become precarious after years of active extraction of the same by the Glazers, means he is taking over at a delicate time.

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