Twenty-five George Clooneys. It sounds like the worst romantic comedy never made. It is, in fact, the line used by one of Manchester United’s main powerbrokers a few years back when trying to explain the club’s global appeal.



Richard Arnold, United’s managing director, has said a few things like that over the years. There was the time he claimed the club had surpassed the social media reach of Vin Diesel and were “closing in” on Rihanna. There was the time he giddily revealed the campaign to announce Paul Pogba’s world record transfer to United in 2016 triggered more than 10 times as many social media interactions as Manchester City’s capture of Kevin De Bruyne. Because that, to borrow from David Brent in The Office, is the real quiz.



He came out with that “25 George Clooneys” line as long ago as 2012, when Sir Alex Ferguson still ruled the club with an iron fist, his vice-like grip felt not just throughout Old...