Former Man United executives including CEO who left after Sir Jim Ratcliffe's arrival set to lock horns, plus the Premier League move raising eyebrows at clubs - INSIDE SPORT

Battle is set to commence between a group of former Manchester United executives who left the club following the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos.

Victoria Timpson, United's former chief executive of global alliances and partnerships, has teamed up with former commercial director Florence Lafaye and Ali Edge, a director in Timpson's department, to launch the Altius8 agency.

They have already been enlisted by Daniel Levy in a bid to boost revenue at Tottenham , having been influential on significant deals with the likes of Snapdragon and Teamviewer, which boosted transfer kitties for various managers at Old Trafford.

However, they would now appear to have a rival in the shape of their old boss, former United chief executive officer Richard Arnold. Arnold, another to depart after Ratcliffe's takeover of club operations, earlier co-founded his own agency, Red Tiger Marketing, which includes another battalion of ex-United staffers, including director of revenue strategy Laurence Miller and strategy manager Polly Adams.

They have been handed the mandate to seek sponsors for the 2026 Commonwealth Games however, in what may prove to be a key development, they are now free to target football clubs after a non-compete in Arnold's United departure expired.

'We started conversations with a number of teams, not just in the Premier League ,' he told Sports Business last week.

A group of former Man United executives, including ex-CEO Richard Arnold, will lock horns

The figures, all of whom held influence at Old Trafford, left after Sir Jim Ratcliffe's arrival

Premier League concern

Eyebrows have been raised across top-flight clubs after the Premier League sent a 'club comms' contact list out to mark the start of the new season.

Clubs took a very different approach to who they added on the list, which may well explain why Brighton ended up with 17 names on there as opposed to Manchester United's five.

However, most conversation was over the Premier League's own figures, with the names and contact details of no fewer than 35 people listed, by far and away the highest number.

While the Premier League declined to comment, league insiders say the list is not a like-for-like comparison because their number includes all possible touch points, including executive assistants, maternity cover and pretty much all of those within the building that club comms departments may, at some point, have reason to contact.

However, it comes at a time when increasing questions are being asked by clubs about the Premier League's level of spend, not least on the myriad of legal cases it is currently embroiled in.

Clubs are worried that the legal bill from cases involving Manchester City and Chelsea are spiralling, amid operating expenses of £81m for 2023-24. In 2022-23 the Premier League recorded a £44m rise in operating expenses.

Concerns have been raised that the battle with City over alleged breaches of financial rules, could end up costing north of £200m.

'A lot of us are struggling to understand why the figure is so high,' said an exec at one club. 'Clubs often host two matches a week and multiple press conferences. How many press conferences do the Premier League have to manage? How many players do they have to look after?'

The Premier League has raised eyebrows over its own figures on a 'club comms' contact list

Rugby needs urgent rethink

The women's Rugby World Cup kicked off in Sunderland on Friday as close to 43,000 saw the Red Roses dismantle the United States. One of England's main rivals is likely to be second-ranked Canada, who thrashed Fiji 65-7 in York on Saturday.

While the tournament is already grabbing attention and shining a light on the sport's high performance levels it is, perhaps, underlining the need for a rethink over the structural and commercial model behind it. Why?

Because it was only March when Canada Rugby was forced to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise £530,000 to provide the team with extra resources for their campaign. That the country ranked second in the world is having to go cap in hand to its public for assistance screams of a wider issue which needs rapid attention.

Canada, one of England's rivals at the Women's Rugby World Cup, was forced to crowdfund

Sky Sports gaffe

If you think you've had a bad weekend, spare a thought for a Sky Sports reporter in Germany who asked Werder Bremen captain Marco Friedl on the pitch post-match whether his side was happy with their win. Friedl had swapped shirts with Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper Michael Zetter after his team had just lost 4-1. 'I'm a Weder Bremen player in case you don't know,' he responded.