THE MAN WHO LED UNITED... NOWHERE!

When Woodward took the top job, the Reds were seventh in the Prem and 22 points off the top spot... as he leaves, they are still seventh in the Prem and still 22 points off the top spot

ED WOODWARD exits Old Trafford beset by regret and recrimination, rather than with pride and satisfaction at a job well done.

After eight-and-a-half years, Woodward leaves Manchester United in the same position they found themselves at the end of his first season – 22 points off the top of a Premier League led by Manchester City, and down in seventh place.

That is the most damning indictment of Woodward’s controversial and turbulent reign in charge of the self-proclaimed biggest club in the world.

That and the failed managerial appointments and consistently poor player recruitment – at a cost of more than £1billion – all of which occurred on his watch.

Those close to Woodward say he privately conceded he had a mountain to climb at United, one he acknowledged he was ultimately unable to scale.

The 50-year-old committed so many faux pas, not least the time he was caught taking a picture of the scoreboard as United lost 2-0 away to Olympiakos in the Champions League in 2014.

Defending himself, Woodward said the photo was on his desk as a permanent reminder of how the club could never sink that low again. Little did he know far bigger lows lay ahead.

Swansea, Cardiff, Newcastle, West Brom, Sheffield United, Burnley, Sunderland, Norwich, Crystal Palace and Wolves, teams routinely swatted aside at United, all ended lengthy waits to win at Old Trafford. In the case of Palace, on successive visits.

In his time in charge, the Reds have finished an average of 21.75 points behind the champions, a pattern that looks set to continue this term.

In four of Woodward’s eight seasons in charge, United finished outside of the top four, with no European football at all in the 2014-15 campaign, after finishing seventh during the ill-fated reign of David Moyes.

The warning signs of incompetence were there early on, in Woodward’s first transfer window, when United were in for Gareth Bale, Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara.

But they ended up signing Marouane Fellaini from Everton, for £4million more than his buy-out clause, because they dithered for too long.

That set the tone for years of poor decision-making in terms of player signings.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013, United have appointed five managers – Moyes, Louis van

Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and now interim boss

Ralf Rangnick.

Woodward is known to regret missing out on

Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, taking personal responsibility, while his other big disappointment is the

Man City Chelsea Liverpool Arsenal West Ham Tottenham MAN UTD

failure to get things right terms of player recruitment.

After Moyes, Woodward is known to regret handing too much power to Van Gaal, who took over in the summer of 2014.

Van Gaal signed Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Radamel Falcao, Anthony Martial, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Matteo Darmian, all of whom proved flops.

That prompted a shift in focus and thinking, driven by Woodward, with a restructuring of player recruitment, giving greater control to scouts and analysts, in terms of identifying targets.

Mourinho, Van Gaal’s successor, fell foul of this new approach. He did not get the targets he wanted and was sacked in December 2018, replaced by

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