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When the elevator doors slide open on the third floor of Manchester United’s offices in London’s exclusive Mayfair district, you’re immediately greeted by full-size replicas of the Premier League and Champions League trophies. For the past eight-and-a-half years, Ed Woodward has had to walk past them, tormented by their presence, every time he has arrived for work as United’s executive vice-chairman, the man who has held the responsibility of running the club for almost a decade.
The trophies are a constant reminder of what United strive to win, but have singularly failed to throughout Woodward’s tenure in charge. When Woodward, 50, clears his desk ahead of his departure later this month, the good news is that he won’t have to endure the torture of walking past those trophies ever again.
The bad news? Well, there’s plenty. Although Woodward is one of the most affable executives in football, a man who unquestionably feels the pain of not being able to deliver success at Old Trafford, his time in charge has been a story of underachievement on the pitch, a succession of sacked managers and far too many expensive mistakes in the transfer market. All as traditional rivals Liverpool and Manchester City enjoy ongoing success.
Woodward has long been a lightning rod for United fans’ frustrations, and he has borne the brunt of much of the criticism from outside the club for failing to keep the trophy room as stacked as it had been for years prior to his appointment in July 2013. At that time, United didn’t need reminding of former glory. Under manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and Woodward’s predecessor, David Gill, the club had become the definition of sustained success, winning 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues in 20 years.
United set the standards for the rest to follow, and when Ferguson and Gill stepped down at the end of the 2012-13 season, the club’s owners, the Glazer family, promoted Woodward from his role in charge of United’s supremely successful…
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Source : espn
