With Ed Woodward finally set to step down as Manchester United’s top executive on 1st February, almost a year after he announced he would be departing, there appears to be an opportunity for real change and progress for a club that, compared to a number of its closest rivals, looks as if it’s stuck in the Stone Age. For nearly a decade United has resembled something like a gold-encrusted, luxury cruiser to which its owners, drunk on their own delusions of grandeur, haven’t seen fit to install a rudder. With Woodward’s smiling face an ever-present sight beside the numerous high-profile signings and managerial appointments that have accompanied United’s days of directionless, for a large portion of the fanbase he has become a figure to place blame at the feet of. You can understand, then, why the news of his departure has been greeted with such gleeful enthusiasm and a new-found sense of optimism for the future. Unfortunately, I doubt this positive feeling will be long lasting.
Whilst it is more than fair to criticise Woodward for the way he’s gone about running the club, I fear he is a mere symptom of a corrupted system, rather than the cause itself. The Glazer family, who have owned Manchester United since 2005, wield the power to direct the club in any direction they see fit. Given this, they have not escaped blame for United’s current state. Old Trafford has not been redeveloped for over 15 years, and it was reported in 2018 that since the Glazer takeover more than one-billion-pounds had been taken away from the club.
Amongst the fanbase, frustration with the hierarchy built to a memorable crescendo with the news that The Red Devils were to join a breakaway European Super League – seen as a move to secure the status of Europe’s so-called elite clubs, whilst abandoning tradition and the football pyramid. Fans stormed the Old Trafford pitch prior to a match against rivals Liverpool, one of the most anticipated games of the Premier League calendar, and in doing so prevented the game from kicking off. The anger directed towards the Glazers and Woodward came with a demand for change, to respect the football club in a way that many felt they had failed to do. With Woodward reported to be one of the ringleaders in the Super League cartel, the move to break away from the football pyramid seemed to confirm the already widely held belief that those in power cared only for United’s success as a business, its profit and turnover, rather than success on the football pitch.
Since then, the Glazers have sought to appease the disgruntled supporters with further high-profile signings in Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as appointing the respected Ralph Rangnick as interim coach with a view towards moving to a consultancy role at the end of the season. On the face of it, these appear to show a change in the Glazer’s attitude, implementing a long-term plan for the success of Manchester United as a football club rather than a business alone. However, there is legitimate concern that this could be another false dawn, a ploy that is focussed more on optics than actual substance.
Aware of his unpopular image, Woodward announced in 2018 that the club would be appointing a director of football. This promise took over two years to materialise, with John Murtough – previously the head of football development – being elevated to the position in early 2021. With this appointment, the hope amongst many of United’s supporters was that Woodward would take a back seat when it came to footballing matters, instead concentrating on the commercial aspects of the club. Despite the creation of the football director role within the club’s hierarchy, though, there was no sign of Woodward relinquishing control of transfers and managerial appointments, and the club’s scattergun approach continued.
Richard Arnold, who will be the first to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer at United since former CEO David Gill left in 2013, is reportedly open to granting greater autonomy to the various departments within the club, and delegating the specifically football-related operations. Having worked beneath Woodward as the club’s managing director since Ferguson’s retirement, Arnold’s success as his replacement will rely on whether he has learned from his predecessor. There are whisperings of a “summer of change” approaching for the club, as if it will be spun into a chrysalis and emerge as the most beautiful, efficient and powerful butterfly the world has ever known. With the reports of Arnold’s plan to move responsibility for United’s footballing decision-making elsewhere, and with Rangnick moving upstairs with his previous successes as director of football at RB Leipzig and Lokomotiv Moscow, this could well be the case.
Only time will tell, though, if the Glazers are truly prepared to overhaul the club that has been so profitable for them for so long, and this is not another restructuring that lacks the substance and commitment to bear fruit in terms of title challenges and trophies. A worry that immediately springs to mind concerns what is actually meant by Rangnick’s future “consultancy” role. What this means, exactly, seems to be open to interpretation, and one fears that Rangnick could be a mere superficial figure at the club, there to give the illusion that United are well-run without possessing any real power to enforce his ideas. If this is the case, the “summer of change” may result in the club emerging more as a decrepit, money-grabbing moth holding a Rangnick-shaped voodoo doll in front of its fetid flesh rather than the Vorsprung Durch Technic butterfly that has been promised. Any manager who is appointed will almost certainly be doomed to failure if the structures around them are built on poor foundations, with a squad assembled by various managers with differing footballing philosophies, and a boss who cares not for the team’s success.
There will be concerns, too, over the transfer policy. It has seemed at times that Woodward opted for high-profile signings that would increase the club’s commercial value, rather than players to fit a particular system or strengthen a position that the team were lacking in. This has led to often disjointed performances, with the club possessing a number of luxury players who have been assembled without much thought given towards how they would perform as a collective. The signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in the last summer transfer window is a key example of this. Whilst he is undeniably one of the greatest players of all time, and a club legend, did United need him? Securing Ronaldo’s services seemed like more of an opportunist decision rather than one that fitted a strategy for the team’s direction.
This is where comments made by Arnold in 2012 that the club had “25 George Clooneys” become concerning. Arnold was here referring to the value of the celebrity-status of United’s players and what that offers the club commercially. If this is his priority, or one of his priorities, there is a danger that he will push for a signing with a large social media following rather than a lesser-known player who might be a better fit for United’s system. Given this has been a policy plaguing the club throughout Woodward’s tenure, and with Arnold witnessing the lack of success this has brought on the pitch, you would hope that he will not go down the same route. Arnold and Woodward, though, unfortunately appear to be cut from the same cloth. Friends from university, and singing from the same hymn sheet thus far during their time at United, it would be somewhat surprising if Arnold were to stray from the path that they have trodden together for so long. Equally, with the Glazers remaining and overseeing Arnold’s activities, would he have the power to revolutionise the club even if he wanted to? If the answer is no, then can any manager who arrives in the summer truly hope to put United back on their perch? It would appear to be unlikely.
United’s problems on the football pitch for the best part of a decade stem from a lack of strategy, identity, cohesion and direction. Whilst Woodward has been the visible point of blame for much of this, his departure does not necessarily promise a revolution. There have been empty promises of change before from the club, and there are reasons to worry that this could be another false start. The hierarchy must commit to focussing on footballing success as well as commercial, but for many it feels like a long time since the club prioritised the footballing aspect of its operations. Whether the much needed shift in focus will begin with Arnold’s ascension is impossible to ascertain, but history offers little reason for optimism for Manchester United’s followers.
Pasta Feet 