When City Football Group (CFG) – the giant conglomerate under which Manchester City’s owners run their football teams – bought Melbourne Heart in 2014, Scott Munn feared for his job.
He had been the club’s first hire as chief executive after it formed in 2009 and an integral part of its progress. But the takeover changed everything. Everyone presumed they would be dismissed and replaced by new CFG staff.
When Munn and colleagues key to the club were summoned to a meeting at the Crown Casino, on the south bank of the Yarra River, with CFG executives Simon Pearce, Ferran Soriano and Brian Marwood, they had half-expected the axe to fall then.
They were each asked what kept them up at night, and Munn watched as his colleagues shared various problems – diminishing funds, the sale of too many key players, sponsors leaving. Pearce, Soriano and Marwood offered solutions to all of them.
When it was Munn’s turn he said, simply, that if they solved all those problems then he didn’t have any, he later recounted in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. That joke was the start of a mutually beneficial relationship from which both parties gained over almost a decade together, and has escalated Munn’s standing in world football.
To the point where he has become one of the most influential figures at Tottenham Hotspur, yet one about whom little is known. He is a key ally of fellow Aussie Ange Postecoglou, the club’s struggling manager, and tasked with finding the extra 0.5 per cent that nobody else can see.
It sounds, according to those who know him, as though Munn is a Dave Brailsford marginal gains-type executive. Make of that what you will.
Some believe he was intended to act as a wedge between Daniel Levy, the chairman currently the target of anger and protest from fans, and the football side of things. Whether that is a wedge or actually a shield from an increasingly frustrated fanbase isn’t always easy to tell.
CFG liked Munn enough to keep him in charge to oversee their ambitious plans Down Under. They signed high-profile players, such as Tim Cahill and Aaron Mooy, won a first trophy in 2016 with the men’s team and three with the women. But it was not without difficulties: underwhelming attendances, fast turnover of players, an inability to escape the sense that a fledgling club had sold its soul to become another cog in the City machine.
After five years as newly-named Melbourne City chief executive under CFG, Munn was promoted within the CFG network to chief executive for China.
CFG China was established in 2016 and opened offices in Shanghai and Chengdu. As well as overseeing it all, one of Munn’s key jobs was becoming chairman of Sishuan Jiuniu FC, a side set up in 2017 that started competing in the China Amateur Football League. It was bought by CFG two years later and represented another fascinating project, full of tensions and challenges.
At the behest of his bosses, Munn had tried to facilitate a relocation to Changsha, Hunan. But after initially agreeing, the Chinese FA reneged, and relations strained to the point CFG threatened to withdraw its investment in Chinese football altogether.
Sparring with the Chinese government will, at least, have provided some preparation for working under Levy.
They did eventually move to Shenzhen Peng, which went through a complete rebrand that included renaming the club to Shenzhen Peng City.
A month after Munn left for Spurs in 2023, the club won promotion to the Chinese Super League for the first time, as winners of China League One.
Since his first day at work in north London, in September 2023, Munn has seen close-up the bipolar nature of Tottenham. Supporting Spurs is like riding a rollercoaster that plunges you down and up and, invariably, down again, circling loop-the-loops for eternity until only the sweet release of death permits you to get off.
He was recruited following a six-month review, conducted by external consultants and commissioned by Levy, of the club’s overall health and longevity. The feeling was that Spurs should operate more like City, and Munn was perfectly positioned, having soaked up CFG for years, regularly flying to England for meetings with key figures.
Levy wanted Spurs to recruit more innovatively, finding better younger players with resale potential while arming the academy to produce quality, profitable footballers. And Munn had, Levy believed, the requisite experience and skills for an evolving job.
Though Munn did not officially start work until five months after the club announced his appointment, and after Postecoglou joined as manager, he is thought to have had a say in the deal. Not only was he well aware of Postecoglou’s achievements in their homeland, they had crossed paths in the CFG network when the latter was in charge at Yokohama F Marinos.
But tides turn dramatically in the Premier League, and if you aren’t careful they can sweep you away. What began as breathless, table-topping football that had many convinced Postecoglou had reinvented the wheel has taken a sharp downturn. And in forums and subreddits, Spurs fans have started to question why Munn hasn’t come under more scrutiny.
It was believed that part of the reason Munn was brought in was so that Levy could take more a backseat. Indeed, that is how it has been perceived externally. The Sydney Morning Herald described Munn’s role as “a buffer between Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy and the club’s football department”.
But more recently it was Levy taking a private jet to Prague on New Year’s Day for two days of negotiations, alongside technical director Johan Lange, to see through the £12.5m signing of young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.
That does not sound like the actions of someone stepping away from control.
Less is known about Munn in European circles because he had spent his entire career on the other side of the world, and in other sports, including rugby league and the Olympics.
But he has seen it all – from having no offices and players standing in wheelie bins full of ice for recovery in Melbourne to the vast riches and infrastructure of City’s Abu Dhabi owners.
Before he arrived at Spurs, Munn won trophies everywhere. And many who have worked with Munn speak effusively about him, as a person and a professional – how much time he has for others, how he impacted their career, the guidance he offers. In China he was known as a smart, patient, careful diplomat.
His roles have been vast, encompassing every department, and every nook and cranny within them, at football clubs, governing bodies and major sporting event organising groups. He loves cycling so much he frequently takes his bike with him on trips abroad.
But reaction of others reveal a sharper edge that belies the friendly eyes, sparkling behind wide-rimmed spectacles, and cheery smile. One football figure declined to discuss Munn with The i Paper because they had nothing positive to say about him.
On Thursday mornings he can often be found watching A-League football with Postecoglou at Tottenham’s training ground. And, possessing a similar sense of humour, they enjoy sharing a joke together.
Munn sees it as his role to cultivate and maintain an environment where the players have no excuses if they don’t perform – to let the manager get on with his job but give him the best tools possible to achieve it.
He is one of the most powerful figures in the Premier League who must oversee the successful spending of revenues that hit €615m (£510m) in 2024.
He is said to feel privileged to work for Levy, to learn from one of the game’s toughest negotiators and dealmakers, and has appreciated the backing the chairman has given him. But in some ways, it is as unenviable a job as it is an enviable one.
His role demands constantly looking at the present and the future in parallel, ensuring everything is ticking along in the current campaign while planning for the next. Making sure global tours are arranged, the academy is fully stocked, the women’s team are competitive, the stadium is optimal. The list goes on.
It can probably seem an overwhelming job: responsible for everything, yet never fully controlling anything, relying on the word and trust of so many others in a notoriously ruthless industry. Almost perfectly positioned to take a fall when someone else needs to take the blame.