Inside Man Utd restructure as Ed Woodward’s DNA obsession poses further questions
Woodward #Woodward
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER OPENS UP ON MAN UTD’S SEASON SO FAR
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
Click to expand
UP NEXT
When Manchester United sacked Jose Mourinho just over two years ago, at least executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward agreed with his departing manager on one thing: the club needed a director of football.
Mourinho was adamant that there were too many voices at Old Trafford when it came to the business of signing players.
So with Woodward getting flak off fans for spending a fortune in the market with mixed results, the message from United when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer succeeded Mourinho was that finding someone to drag the Reds’ recruitment strategy into the 21st century was a top priority.
Wednesday’s announcement that John Murtough has been promoted from head of development to become United’s first football director led to one insider describing the appointment as “a case of moving the furniture around.”
The fact that former United midfielder Darren Fletcher had been made technical director was also a surprise given the Scot has been studying for his coaching badges while spending the last couple of months working on the training ground with Solskjaer’s first-team squad.
Fletcher can now hang up his tracksuit.
“Did Ed Woodward mention DNA when the announcement was made?” asked the insider. “I thought he would because for some reason Ed seems to think that this mystical Manchester United DNA ticks every box.”
It remains to be seen whether Woodward retains a role in buying new players beyond signing the cheques.
He has worked closely with Matt Judge – a university pal who has acted as United’s chief negotiator since 2016 under the guise of head of corporate development.
Judge’s new title after the re-shuffle is director of football negotiations.
The plan is for him to work closely with Solskjaer and Murtough to ensure the club’s American owners will get more bang for their buck.
Over £1billion has been spent in the transfer market since the dream team of Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill relinquished power almost eight years ago.
Their working relationship was one where Ferguson and his small but trusted scouting team identified targets – and Gill then did the necessary.
The only problem was that it was a modus operandi that left Woodward and incoming manager David Moyes with nothing to work with in the summer of 2013.
It was Moyes who brought Murtough – a Liverpudlian no less – to Old Trafford a few months later having worked with him at Everton.
He has certainly proved himself to be a survivor. Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Mourinho have all been and gone during his time at the club.
Now United fans will discover whether he is up to the job that experienced operators like Monchi, Marc Overmars, Marcel Boult, Angelo Henrique, and Luis Campos were all touted for.
Or whether transfer-by-committee will continue to be the policy at Old Trafford.