Man Utd chief Berrada sticking with 2028 title aim

Omar Berrada spent seven years at Barcelona before joining Manchester City in 2011 and moving to Manchester United in 2024 Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada is sticking with his aim of marking the club's 150th anniversary in 2028 by winning the men's and women's league titles. Berrada first outlined 'Project 150' to staff in September 2024. United were founded as Newton Heath in 1878 and Berrada wants to mark the club's 150-year milestone in three years' time with a return to the summit of the English game. Given the men's team just experienced theirworst domestic campaignsince the 1973-74 relegation season and the women have to usurp Chelsea's unbeaten Treble winners, the task is not easy. But, in an in-depth interview withthe United We Stand fanzine,externalto be published on Wednesday, Berrada says it is better to aim high than have no target at all. "It's establishing a series of targets within a timeframe so we can focus our efforts and energy on that goal," the 47-year-old said. "Can the team win the Premier League title by 2028? Of course. "We've just finished 15th and it seems an impossible task. But why not aim for it? Why not do everything in our power?" In 2002-03, a year before Berrada joined the Catalan giants, Barcelona finished sixth, 22 points behind champions Real Madrid. In an example of how quickly fortunes can change, they won the Champions League three years later. "I firmly believe we can do it," he said of United's prospects. "We have two or three summer windows to build a team to start competing to win the Premier League. "Nobody is saying we don't want to win it until then. We're setting ourselves a target with a specific time frame to go and aim for." Berrada accepts the backdrop to his comments, following on from aEuropa League final defeatby Tottenham he estimates cost between £80m-£90m in revenue and a second round of redundancies, is not great. However, he sees the completion of the £50m upgrade at United's Carrington training ground as a huge benefit, including on the women's side. "We have been a bit distracted with all the issues around the men's first team but we are committed to making the women's team very successful," said Berrada. "You've heard [minority owner] Jim [Ratcliffe] say 'if you're wearing the United shirt then you must win'. That's exactly how I feel. A club of our scale has a responsibility to grow football in general and contribute to women's football." But Berrada knows where the major external focus will be, in particular on coach Ruben Amorim, who had such a tortuous introduction to life at United following hisarrival from Sportingin November. Berrada joined United after working as chief football operations officer at City Football Group. And he can see similarities between Amorim and Pep Guardiola, who he got to know during his time at Manchester City and who, by his own standards, struggled in his debut campaign before eventually finishing fourth. "It was difficult in Pep's first year," said Berrada. "He didn't win anything and there was suspicion about whether he could implement his football vision in the Premier League. People said he was arrogant and wouldn't change his style of play. But he stuck to his principles." Asked if he saw similarities with Amorim, Berrada said: "Very much so." Berrada feels the difficulties Amorim has encountered since his arrival will benefit the club next season and says there is genuine reason for optimism. "It won't be easy," he said. "There'll be some difficult moments ahead. "Nothing is going to get solved with one summer window, but we are on the right path. "We've put the worst part of this transformation phase behind us and now we're going to start building. I'm very confident we'll get back to the top."