ED WOODWARD needed to process things for a second as a group of delighted Manchester United fans asked for a selfie.
He was in Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, the morning after an historic 3-1 away win had taken the club into the quarter-finals of the 2018-19 Champions League.
It was all going so well for Ed Woodward when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was interim boss – but it’s fallen apart since thenCredit: Getty – Contributor
Man Utd hit a lowpoint with Wednesday’s dire 2-0 home loss against Burnley
Red Devils fans giddy on life under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted as many keepsakes from that trip as possible.
One with the man at the helm of Old Trafford who had put Ole at the wheel was certainly on the list for this group.
The night before in a TV studio Rio Ferdinand was banging a desk claiming ‘Man United are back’ — after their stunning win over Paris Saint-Germain — and calling on Woodward to give Solskjaer a permanent contract ‘NOW’.
Woodward did just that.
Now ten months on, as United’s season stumbles to new lows, it is all apparently the 48-year-old executive vice-chairman’s fault.
It is one thing questioning his judgment, it is quite another wishing him dead as some United fans chanted on Wednesday night.
That, Solskjaer quite rightly claimed was ‘crossing a line’.
Already Woodward’s wife has stopped going to games because of the abuse her husband gets.
The postal department at Old Trafford has to filter out appalling hate mail before it reaches his desk.
Talk to some United fans and you would think the man had sprouted horns and was on the Anfield payroll.
It has become easy and lazy to point the finger directly at him for United’s relative failings.
I use ‘relative’ because the last 3½ years have still brought an FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League and second-placed Premier League finish.
Everyone outside of the Etihad and Anfield could only wish for such a demise.
Ah, but United have spent so much money it should be better.
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FAILED MANAGERS
Indeed, a £550million net outlay on the team since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 should leave you with a better squad than this.
Yet that figure alone shows the extent to which David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Solskjaer have been backed in the transfer market.
The six years prior to Sir Alex and chief executive David Gill departing saw a net spend of £97.5m.
That included the time Paul Pogba was allowed to go on a free to Juventus and enjoy the most successful years of his club career, winning four Serie A titles.
A decision that would eventually cost the club £89m to get him back.
It could be argued the lack of investment before Sir Alex left had an immediate knock-on effect.
Joel Glazer deserves more of the blame and criticism for the woes of Man UtdCredit: Rex Features
Yes, he departed with the Premier League trophy back in the cabinet but also a side coming to its end with nobody in the background to step up.
Still, that is all forgotten. Woodward is the evil Glazer puppet.
Hang on, though, was it not Gill who objected to the Glazers’ takeover, claiming ‘debt is the road to ruin’, and then helped facilitate a smooth transition by staying on in his job. For another eight years.
Sir Alex never once criticised the owners who were taking hundreds of millions out of the club in debt management.
Do not forget his battle over stud rights for racehorse Rock of Gibraltar indirectly helped with the Glazers’ takeover.
Horse owners JP McManus and John Magnier, with whom he was in dispute, became the major shareholders in United and then sold to the Glazers.
SEISMIC EFFECT
What Sir Alex achieved after the takeover papered over any problems and he added to his legacy with more titles and three Champions League finals in four years. But that was down to him, nobody in the background, not Gill.
United WAS Sir Alex. It was all in his footballing brain, all in his control, all down to his experience, tactical nous and man-management.
The seismic effect of Sir Alex’s retirement cannot be underestimated.
He chose his successor Moyes. Van Gaal was regarded as one of the greatest names in modern-day coaching.
There was nobody better available when Mourinho took charge.
But what about a director of football, people cry.
Well, they did not need one when Sir Alex was there and they currently have about five people doing each strand of what that job entails.
So let us forget that tired, old argument, too.
The recruitment has been criticised but you could field a team of duds from Fergie’s time, too.
The buys are not all down to Woodward. He has staff, an army of scouts and managers to identify the targets, he just has to get the cash to buy them — and that he has done.
Co-chairman Joel Glazer is the man with the final say.
Woodward, along with managing director Richard Arnold, has revolutionised a previously archaic commercial department to offset the Glazer debts and make sure big money is available.
If managers of the calibre of Van Gaal and Mourinho identify a player, then who is Woodward, Gill or anyone else to question them.
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Yet because Pogba has not put a shift in from day one it seems to be Woodward’s fault.
The one big criticism that can be laid at his and Solskjaer’s door of late is their failure to replace Romelu Lukaku when the striker left in the summer.
Marcus Rashford is now injured and, as Wednesday proved, they are not the same team without their top scorer.
The problem now is Woodward and Solskjaer have invested in a plan which is undoubtedly going to have short-term problems in its quest for long-term gain.
It is all right investing in youth and the future but you need a crowd that has patience to go with it.
They are losing theirs.
The fans cannot turn on Solskjaer because, after all, he is a club legend.
His old team-mates who retired to TV studios and then laid into Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho, have suddenly called for patience and time for this incumbent.
The finger has to be pointed somewhere and Woodward is an easy target.
What he does not deserve are the chants that are coming his way.
As Solskjaer said, they ‘have overstepped the line’.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
