Mayer has spent more than 20 years working in the world of sport, including as CEO of the Manly Sea Eagles and the French European Super League team Catalans Dragons. He currently lectures at the Australian College of Physical Education and the International College of Sports Management Sydney.

“The great appeal of football is the international power that it has and wields,” Mayer said of his appointment.

He said there was “great potential” for Adelaide United to grow and “become one of the iconic brands of Australian sport”.

Riven with drama off-field and frustration on, the club will hope the appointment provides stability after a series of setbacks, most recently the loss of a $150,000 sponsorship deal from the Northern Territory Government.

The position became vacant last month after the shock resignation of Michael Petrillo, who has since moved to rival A-League club Melbourne City to become its Head of Talent Management.

United Chairman Greg Griffin told InDaily there’d been “a Melbourne cup field of applicants…far better than I’ve ever seen in terms of people”.

“It’s been a very interesting process,” he said.

“Some of the applicants (were) simply outstanding.”

He said the selection process had not been outsourced, but was conducted by “me and the administration”.

“Where people have been interviewed, I’ve brought in various members of the board…to ensure the board is comfortable with the sort of person we’re talking to and ultimately it’s a board decision,” he said.

“I’m not a great believer in external consultants, to be blunt. We had a pretty good idea of the sort of person we wanted. And the raft of applicants we got justifies the path we took.”