Appointment of Ed Woodward and the financial performance of Manchester United

Ed Woodward was appointed as the Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Manchester United in 2013, replacing the outgoing David Gill. He was a former accountant and investment banker before taking up this role. Woodward was the advisor to the Glazer family during their takeover process of Manchester United in 2005. He helped them engineer the £500 Million debt to fund their investment into the club. It is widely known that he is the most powerful man on the club’s board. Once he was appointed, the objective was the American vision of exploitation of the commercial potential of the club to the fullest. The Glazers were not disappointed in this regard with the club’s revenue almost being tripled from £48.7 Million in 2005 to £117.6 Million in 2012. What is the significance behind these numbers ? Woodward joined Manchester United in 2005 as a financial planner appointed by the Glazers and has ever since turned them into a financial superpower in the modern game. Ever since he attained the role of CEO in 2013, the club has reached new heights financially. They were declared the most valuable football club by Forbes in June 2018 being valued at $4.12 Billion. Along with this, they are also the most profitable team with an operating income of $254 Million. What has been highlighted so far is the financial success and the great business mind of Ed Woodward. But the most significant responsibility of a football club is to ensure successes on the pitch while entertaining the fans and giving them something to support. It is very rightful to say that Woodward has failed in this aspect of his role.

            “More emphasis on commercial results than results on the field” would be the ideal tagline for Ed Woodward if he was a brand. Bringing in a plethora of sponsors ever since he became the CEO is quite evident. Expensive deals involving Chevrolet and Adidas are just a couple of monster deals he has pulled off. Manchester United is a very powerful proposition in the sponsors’ eyes and majority of the credit goes to him. But, however attractive the Club is towards sponsors, the attractiveness of it as a football team has reduced over time. What about the focus on the ‘actual’ football ? Have the managerial appointments he has made worked ? Has the recruitment procedure brought a fortune to the club ? There is no doubt he has been very hasty, and business minded in his decisions. Well guess what, he did not have any sort of experience in sport prior to Manchester United.

David Gill

David Gill was the former CEO of Manchester United and served the club for 16 years between 1997- 2013. As mentioned by Sir Alex himself, Gill always put Manchester United first as a team before other issues surrounding the club. Sir Alex received enormous support from Gill and was given complete freedom to implement his thoughts and practices on the team. There were constant discussions and meetings between them about team centred topics such as player recruitment and talent identification. Sir Alex Ferguson, as quoted in BBC, “Gill laid down the foundation and created a template to follow. We just must follow the template. The aim is to support the manager, staff and maintain the successes they have”. There is no denying that Manchester United enjoyed their time at the helm of English and European football during Gill’s time in charge. With these successes, there was no doubt that he created a workplace environment which facilitated the functioning of the manager, staff and players.

There are always going to be issues when a senior figure leaves an organisation after a long period of association with it. Sir Alex admitted that the departure of Gill was a difficult time for him, personally and the club. However, he trusted in Woodward to carry on the successful operations of the club. Gill’s departure can be compared to that of David Dein’s departure from Arsenal. Dein was the former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal and was decisive in the Club’s history in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Wenger and him were exceptional while working together at the club and it is evident as to why there was plenty of success during their time together. Nonetheless, after his departure in 2007, Arsenal have struggled to design their foundation and you could say they are in a mess not knowing how to engineer a move away from it. This example of Dein and Arsenal is very similar to Gill and Manchester United. Manchester United have replaced Gill with Woodward but there is no denying that the hierarchy and management are still in jeopardy.

Errors in judgement- Recruitment of managers

There is always an air of uncertainness when a new manager or coach takes over at a club. Nevertheless, trusting the coach and his backroom staff is vital to the success of the team. Sir Alex was backed no matter what, by the club, fans and David Gill. In 1990, majority of supporters wanted him out of the club due to poor performances. It is widely claimed that a player named Mark Robins scored the only goal in a game against Nottingham Forest to seal the victory as well as Sir Alex’s job. Despite all the negative energy around the club, he had the backing of senior figures at the club and the outcome of this bit of trust was on display until his retirement in 2013. Fast forward to the present and there seems to be a ‘Hire and Fire’ approach to managers at the club.

David Moyes was handed the job after a discussion between the Glazers, Gill and Sir Alex. There was always going to be problems when a 27-year relationship between manager and club ends and everyone knew it. There was nothing wrong in appointing Moyes as the successor to Sir Alex as he had a proven track record Everton and more than being a good coach, he was a professional on and off the field. Moyes’s downfall at United was architected by himself despite receiving the trust of the board. He got his desired signings, played the football he wanted to play but it was not to be with Manchester United finishing 7^th and Moyes getting the sack with four games left to play. However, the big problems arrived when Louis Van Gaal was appointed coach in 2014. Following a 3^rd place finish with Netherlands at the World Cup, Van Gaal was ecstatic to be named the new boss of Manchester United and he was. It is never easy to come in at such a point in United’s history and turn around fortunes instantly. Everyone seemed to have accepted that except the hierarchy. There was no denying that Van Gaal was given the players he wanted in his first year and was unsatisfied with transfers in his second year. There was unrest among a few sections of fans who were disgusted with the slow and boring football played under him. Regardless of all this, what is unethical is opening talks with another manager and persuading him to take the role at the club when there is already a man who is working hard to restore the club to where it belongs. Jose Mourinho was promised the job even before Van Gaal was fired. In recent times, Van Gaal has come out and revealed the nature of how the club is being run. He compared it to Bayern Munich and revealed the gulf in level of senior figures and the way they think. He called Woodward as a man with zero football knowledge and that pretty much sums up what everyone has been thinking.

Along with Mourinho, Van Gaal and Solksjaer were also Woodward’s appointments. In short, Mourinho was neither backed or trusted with the exception of his first season when the club adhered to his demands. People laughed when claimed that finishing 2^nd in league in 2017-2018 was the greatest achievement of his career but are they are now coming to terms with it. While Manchester City and Liverpool have invested constantly and have complete faith in their respective managers, Mourinho was driven out by a combination of lack of confidence placed in him and a rumoured existence of player power with a few members of the squad threatening to leave the club. Their squad is nowhere close to competing for major honours and it seemed like only Mourinho, out of all employees of the club, understood this. A classic case of poor recruitment was when the club invested in Fred and Dalot but ignored Mourinho’s cry for a centre back which was the most problematic position. An opportunity to sign one of Maguire or Alderweireld cropped up but Woodward rejected the need for it. Player power is never concrete, and it is always a rumour. However, “No player is bigger than the club” seems like a myth in modern football. Post his sack, Mourinho has given hints of dominance in the club due to player power in a few interviews but has never confirmed it. An ideal scenario for a manager is to work in conditions where he enjoys the trust of the owners and the board. This involves appropriate transfer targets as requested by him solely because he understands what it requires to implement his philosophy.

Lack of senior figures at the club

Michael Carrick, Solksjaer and Mike Phelan may be part of the coaching set up as people who know the club inside out, but a lack of senior figures working closely with the board and team has impacted their performance. The significance of a technical director has been highlighted in recent times. He/she is the one who acts as a link between the board and the manager/team. Transfer business, recruitment, on field results and other player related issues will be dealt by the technical director along with the manager and the board. However, Manchester United have failed to appoint a person for such a position. Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher have all been considered but there has not been any news yet. Since Sir Alex and David Gill have departed, Manchester United have not bothered to employ a person with similar stature to get involved in team related operations. However, looking out for only former players and accommodate them in such positions is ideal. There are people in this game who are specialized in roles such as a director of football or sporting director. These people would have worked in different situations and will know the exact solution for the club. Manchester United have been criticised for approaching the likes of Ferdinand and Fletcher for these roles purely because there people who understand the game better than them. There is, however, one positive to take from this. Manchester United intend to change their structure by appointing a technical director to oversee the team related issues. If this means that Ed Woodward will have lesser involvement in transfers and recruitment, the supporters will rejoice and better ‘footballing’ decisions are on their way. What is evident is that in the modern game, more than former players and legends, there should be more emphasis on personnel who are more knowledgeable  and specialized in different roles.