The Woodward Legacy by Robert Mizzi
A
fter nearly 10 years as CEO of Manchester United, Ed Woodward has been recently succeeded by Richard Arnold. In this article, I will try to give an overview of the Woodward legacy and how Manchester United have found themselves in their current situation after a catalogue of dubious, if not outright ridiculous, decisions that have contributed to the disintegration of the ethos of Manchester United. A little bit of background to start with. In 2005, Woodward advised Malcolm Glazer and the Glazer family during their successful takeover of Manchester United. The Glazer family thanked him by recruiting Woodward to join the club in a “financial planning” role. Two years later, Woodward was given charge of the commercial and media operations of Manchester United. It was in this role that Woodward is credited for United’s success in tying up lucrative sponsorship deals with companies around the world and become renowned for his business acumen. As a result, Woodward was appointed to the board of directors and named executive vice-chairman of Manchester United in 2012. After the retirement of CEO David Gill in 2013, Woodward was promoted to the top operational role at Old Trafford in a restructuring of the club’s boardroom. Woodward was succeeded this January by Richard Arnold. I will now try to briefly provide an overview of the transfer windows overseen by Ed
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Woodward which have inevitably define his legacy at Manchester United. 2013-14: The disastrous first window It is claimed that David Moyes had instructed Woodward to target Cesc Fàbregas, Thiago Alcântara, Ander Herrera, Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini and ended up with only Fellaini on the final day, paying £4m more than the £23.5m buyout clause. Not a great start! Juan Mata’s £37.1m arrival the following January was an improvement, but United’s transfer shenanigans had just begun. 2014-15: The over-the-top transfers Louis van Gaal came in to replace Moyes and incredibly, seven players were added to the squad. Ángel Di María’s arrival for a British record £59.7m from Real Madrid and Radamel Falcao’s £16m loan from Monaco were followed by five other acquisitions being Herrera (£29m), Luke Shaw (£27m), Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (£1.5m), Marcos Rojo (£16m) and Daley Blind (£13.8m). The socalled galácticos proved a disaster. 2015-16: The low-key transfers Woodward and Van Gaal plumped for six signings without an established A-list talent in a move that, again, seemed too polar a reaction to 12 months before. In came Matteo Darmian (£12.7m), Memphis Depay (£25m), Morgan Schneiderlin (£17m), Bastian Schweinsteiger (£6.5m), Sergio Romero (free) and Anthony Martial (an initial £36m). Martial arrived on a final day that also brought the drama of David de Gea’s collapsed move to Real Madrid (remember faxgate?). The Spanish
club blamed United, who countered by citing their time-stamped faxes as evidence, and suggested Madrid had left it too late. 2016-17: The return of Pogba and Zlatan After 13 players had been recruited during the previous two summers, Woodward and his new manager, José Mourinho, went for four players in what remains the highest spend of the Woodward era: £149m. Despite a (then) world record £89m for Paul Pogba, and £30m apiece on Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, it was the free signing which highlighted another hodgepodge stratagem. This was the bringing in of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a 35-year-old whose arrival meant the 21-year-old Martial was shoved to the margins as United adopted a plodding style. With hindsight, this was a devastating blow to Martial’s confidence from which I believe he never recovered. Although Ibrahimovic scored 28 goals and United won the League Cup and Europa League, our beloved team still ended 24 points behind EPL winners Chelsea. 2017-18: The rebuild transfers Ibrahimovic’s serious knee injury ended his stint at United and Mourinho sought to construct a more rounded side that could challenge. In came Victor Lindelöf (£31m), Romelu Lukaku (£75m) and Nemanja Matic (£40m) in a £146m outlay. Alexis Sánchez joined the following January, in a swap that took Mkhitaryan to Arsenal, and included a lot of theatrics and social media gimmicks.
