Ed Woodward hits back at fans, insists football comes first at Man Utd

Ed Woodward has described accusations that non-football people make football decisions at Manchester United as a “myth”.

The club’s remarkable decline into mediocrity since 2013, when Woodward assumed his position as chief executive, has been put down to the business-first mindset of a man whose background is in marketing and finance.

This notion has been best demonstrated by the club’s failures in the transfer market, from perennially injured players like Marcos Rojo (I do love him nonetheless, the mad bastard), players who should never have left like Daley Blind, and those, like Alexis Sanchez, who should have never come in the first place.

In a rare direct address to Man United supporters through the vehicle of the Daily Mail, Woodward highlighted that there were, of course, a number of ‘brilliant’ football experts working on strategy at the club.

Ed Woodward: “There is a myth that we have non-football people making football decisions, and I think it’s insulting to the brilliant people who work on the football side in this club.” #mulive [men]

— utdreport (@utdreport) October 17, 2019

You can draw two conclusions from this. Firstly, should this be true, then the overarching strategy underpinning the work of these ‘experts’ is all wrong, much like asking a top-quality detective to figure out who stole milk from the work fridge last week.

The second conclusion is that Woodward, regardless of whether he is telling the truth, has released this handy excuse two days before United play Liverpool in a huge, terrifying game.

Either way, it does not reflect well on a man who will, always, command the ire and vengeance of United’s fanbase.