Football News: Where did it all go wrong for Manchester United?

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Where did it all go wrong was the great question to Georgie Best sat on the bed with his casino winnings and a Miss World. That question is now more apt to our once great club, now wallowing around in relative obscurity, however there are no winnings.

I took a look back at 2 May 2013. It is a significant day because it is the one where Ed Woodward said there is no need for "a major retooling" of the team. This is despite SAF having spoken of a planned summer recruitment drive. Woodward said: "There's incredible depth. We could put two first teams out with 11 internationals in each. We have a young squad, each now a year older. We're very comfortable with the make-up of team and squad. "

However, SAF had responded about a link to Lewandowski by claiming he would always find room for quality additions to his squad.

But "I wouldn't expect there to be a major retooling of the squad, " said Woodward, "It has been a phenomenal season. We are a long way ahead in the Premier League and, whilst I wouldn't describe the way we got knocked out of the Champions League as luck, things could have gone differently in that game. "

No quality additions or Lewandowski as SAF had been thinking then. SAF announced his retirement 6 days later.

I often quote Mourinho's CV, well an overview on our present decision maker back on 2 May 2013 was that he was a former investment banker who joined United in 2005 and had mainly concentrated on managing the club's vast debt and maximising income.

Jump to the present day, five and a half years of Woodward later. The club is in utter turmoil, two managers retained until it was cheaper to sack them and it appears a third is ongoing. People wonder why the players are not trying, perhaps they can see that come the moment we can't make top four Millions can be saved and the manager will likely be sacked.

Finance people are by nature numbers driven and our club has had impressive numbers growth, but numbers are only one part of any business. Football is emotive, it isn't soulless accounting, yet, I can only say what the impression of the club aims seems to have become, that is numbers, profit, shareholders, investors, sponsors, assets, stock market. What happened to the football, the club that Busby and Ferguson nurtured. United can make money regardless of results on the pitch is another more recent Woodwardism. That is utterly damning but entirely explanatory for me as to why we have the present predicament.

For me, the numbers should be up for Woodward and that is where we should build from. Any CEO who oversaw such a dramatic decline in the companies product in the manner of what we have seen in the five and a half years since his appointment would almost certainly gone 2 or 3 years ago. Yes I would like new owners but we need Woodward gone, now, right now and a new leader recruited. Then it would be time to review the Manager.

Written by Red Man December 02 2018 16:55:21