Why United can’t bank on club’s Ed boy
ED Woodward has taken measures to dodge the cross-hairs at United, but Gary Neville still spots him.
Woodward has ‘nothing to do’ with player recruitment and appointed a media advisor to help the Reds communicate their message amid what is another turbulent transfer window.
He was not visible at Anfield on Sunday, where Neville was filmed angrily smacking a desk after Anthony Martial fired over a chance to equalise.
But the former United captain still targeted Woodward.
“I can’t believe the investment that’s been put into the squad in the last five, six, seven years and you end up with that out on the pitch,” Neville said. “If you don’t lose your job for essentially overseeing that investment, that wage bill, and putting that team out on the pitch then I have to say something is really wrong.”
Neville still maintained his Glazer silence, though did at least question why United’s absent landlords should persist with the former investment banker who advised them on their 2005 takeover.
Woodward speaks with Joel Glazer on a daily basis and a source said the owners, though distant, are ‘more involved than people think.’ Joel Glazer has not been seen at a United match since the Champions League quarter-final first leg with Barcelona last year.
John W Henry, the Glazers’ compatriot and counterpart at Liverpool, was in the directors’ box on Sunday.
Walking past the renovated Anfield main stand, it is impossible not to be impressed by Liverpool, a club getting things right on and off the pitch.
Plans have been announced to modernise the Anfield Road
End and they will add the champions of England title to their champions of Europe and champions of the world crowns.
As for Old Trafford, the roof still leaks and the stadium has not been expanded since the quadrants were opened in 2006 – an application signed off pre-Glazers.
United are lacking positives. However much they attempt to protect Woodward, he is the common denominator in seven years of mainly failure.
If he was merely the messenger between the recruitment department and the manager, then why would Solskjaer namecheck Woodward while discussing recruitment at press conferences again and again?
A picture of Woodward on the Eurostar to Paris last week evoked memories of his departure from Australia on the 2013 tour for ‘urgent transfer business’ and his sighting on an EasyJet flight to Barcelona in 2015. Neither Cesc Fabregas nor Neymar – reported targets at the time – arrived. Woodward is not as hands-on as he was in his first five years as executive vice-chairman.
The United head of corporate development, Matt Judge, has primarily negotiated transfers in the last three years. The one-at-a-time summer strategy meant United ran out of time to replace Romelu Lukaku and there was no enthusiasm to seek an alternative to Sean Longstaff after Newcastle United demanded £50m. Somehow, one of the most sto