Neville predicted Arnold difficulty after asking Man Utd chief six questions

Gary Neville predicted a tough challenge for the new Manchester United CEO Richard Arnold following his appointment back in February.

Arnold took over from Ed Woodward at Old Trafford after he stepped down following a 10-year spell at the club. The new CEO has the tough task of proving he is different to Woodward, who was unpopular among the United faithful.

Speaking after his appointment this year, Neville admitted that time will be needed for Arnold to put his own stamp of authority in order to take the club forward. "Manchester United have now got a new CEO, but he has only had his feet under the table for about three or four weeks," he said at the time.

"There is an element of obviously giving Richard Arnold time to be able to assess the situation - but it is very fast at Manchester United; there are a lot of things happening all the time. Sometimes it is a case of slowing down and standing back from it and not getting involved in the weeds and the sort of micro-detail of what is going on."

Although Neville was understanding of Arnold's new role, he even went as far as imposing six questions for the new CEO. "What is the plan? What is the plan for the club? Where are the club going?

"Where does it need to be in three years? Where does it need to be in five years? On the pitch and, importantly as well, off the pitch, how are the club going to represent themselves and do the right things?"

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He added: "How are they going to make sure, basically, that when the electric goes down during half-time, that message goes out straight away that the food is free and not wait until the end of the game. They are really important things because it is about culture, how you think and how you behave. Straight away, your instinct has to be in the club.

"That is something, ultimately now, that now needs to change because Ed Woodward was there for eight, nine or ten years. Now Richard Arnold has taken over and they are completely different characters. I think it is fair that Richard should get an amount of time - two or three years - to be able to build a club in his own identity.

"But I also think it is important that they appoint a sporting director and a new manager, obviously, in the summer which is going to happen. They are really important appointments because they will set the tone for how the club behaves in the next few years."

Arnold is striving to put things right and recently met up with a group of United fans at a pub to address some of their concerns - to avoid history from repeating itself. During Woodward's 10-year tenure, United went on to spend £1billion on players - more than any other club in Europe.

And on facing the concerns from fans, Arnold admitted to the supporters: "We spent a billion pounds on players. I'm not thrilled where we are," Arnold said after meeting up with a group of fans at a pub to avoid protests outside his house.

"It doesn't sit easy with me and I worry how we get this sorted for the future. What's happened is we have f***ing burned through cash. You can't go to our training ground and say 'show me where the £1billion is because we haven't spent money well historically. I'm not here to defend [chairman] Joel [Glazer]. He must speak for himself. But you have taken the time to come here and make your views known - and I respect that. We've blown through an enormous amount of money."

Indeed, Arnold has a tough task ahead of him - but confronting the difficulty in front of disgruntled fans will go a long way in getting him on side with them. Neville was right about the challenges ahead, but at least the new Manchester United chief is aware of the reality.