Things That Have Gone Wrong at United : Ed Woodward

Ed Woodward. The chief executive of Manchester United has become something of a hate figure, particularly in recent weeks, as the 18/19 reached a bitter end. But is all the hate justified?

We've already look at some of the problems on the pitch, but the man who is effectively head of operations at United has a background, is not as a football man, but a former accountant and investment banker, who worked at PriceWaterHouseCoopers and then JP Morgan. Big names in the world of finance, but not the traineeship required to run a football club.

The previous occupant, David Gill, ran a good stewardship of the club, and had a similar background in the world of corporate finance, but he had the support of one Alex Ferguson, to manage the footballing decisions.

Wage Structure

He did make a better job of managing the wage structure at the club, and that is now clearly out of control, with the likes of Alex Sanchez on bumper contracts despite performing incredibly poorly.

The wage structure issue is the reason that De Gea is off to PSG. It's also behind Herrera's move, as they were unwilling to meet his demands. If they hadn't overpaid Sanchez, it wouldn't have caused these issues.

Bad Buys

There are a catalogue of bad buys under Woodward's leadership. Di Maria, Falcao, Sanchez, were all poor buys. Fred seemed a pointless buy at £50 million for a guy who hardly kicked the ball for the first half of the season, when there were more urgent and pressing issues in defence, for example.

The buys were haphazard, and reactive. Some of them seemed to come towards the end of the transfer window, as if he was panicking, and just buying for the sake of appearing to have taken some action.

They weren't strategic, carefully planned, etc., otherwise the defence wouldn't be as threadbare as it is, with players like Smalling and Jones still in the side for many years, despite not being to the standard that a team like United deserves. Where is our Virgil van Dijk, for example?

Not Backing Managers

The board's failure to back Mourinho last summer was the nail in the coffin for the manager. But who on that board had the authority to overrule that manager? Mourinho, for all his faults, is still a highly experienced manager, and he should have been given the backing to improve the side.

Infrastructure

The overall set up at United is now leagues behind City. The lack of a director of football, and facilities that pail in comparison to those enjoyed by City's Academy side, show there is a huge gulf now (pun unintended). City have put in place a system that could see them dominate football for the next decade at least. Meanwhile, United seem lost, and there is no clear indicator where their next major trophy is coming from.

Conclusion

Woodward is very reactive, the signing of Solskjaer was just another example of this. He reacted to fan and media pressure, rather than having a clear plan and following his own, strongly considered ideas. He's a weak person, not sure of what to do outside of his own fifedom, which is financial.

This need not be completely bad, though. It seems the criticism from the outside world, and the likes of Gary Neville, is filtering into the club. The buys that have been made this summer, and those that have been touted, show a club that is reacting to criticism, and taking a different tack.

Solskjaer has been backed, and it looks like he is aiming to build a young, hungry team, to emulate the success the club enjoyed in the 90s, If he can hire a director of football, and leave the footballing decisions to football people, then the damaging effects of his directorship can be limited. Here's to hoping.