As if Manchester United fans needed a further cause to despise Ed Woodward, the glorified accountant has handed his loyal band of haters further frustration with a bow on top in a recent interview.
We’re not yet clear on what Woodward’s objective was when he decided to go public. Did he think he’d rally support by suggesting that it’s a “myth” that non-football people (that’ll be him) at the club are making football decisions and that it’s “insulting to the brilliant people who work on the football side in this club?”
Or maybe that he believes “Ole’s vision maps exactly to the core three football objectives we [United] have.” Just to clarify that’s winning trophies, playing attacking football, and giving a youth a chance. United currently sit in 12th and could drop into the relegation zone if they lose this weekend; they’ve scored an average 0.7 goals per game since the opening day of the season, and youth have been forced into the squad because of injuries and poor recruitment.
Best of all, Woodward claimed that it’s “important” that the “commercial side is never allowed to take priority over the football side.” United have signed big names like Angel di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez since Woodward took control of transfer dealings, most of whom arguably didn’t fit the ‘United mould’ – they weren’t young, hungry and passionate. Only Pogba is currently still playing for the club, for the time being at least.
Understandably, the Old Trafford faithful were somewhat miffed at Woodward’s self-defence and took particular issue with the 47-year-old’s comments about recruitment…
Former boss Louis van Gaal hit out at Woodward earlier this year for having, and we quote, “zero understanding of football.”
He continued: “It cannot be a good thing when a club is run solely from a commercially-driven perspective.”
Here’s what supporters have had to say…