In my view, there is a simple explanation as to why United has been constantly underachieving in recent years and his name is Ed Woodward. Say what you want about his ability to expand the United brand, get on new sponsors and increase revenue. This man has not enough knowledge about football to run such a high profile club. Of course you can blame Moyes, Van Gaal or even Mourinho for bad results and performances but looking at the bigger picture he is the most responsible person for the lack of success in recent years.
First of all, he puts way too much trust in the manager to bring United back to success. What do I mean by that? Well, I get the impression that there is no long term concept or planning. What style of play should be implemented, which players fit into this style? Identifying and approaching the players you think will fit in according to a long-term plan and bring the club forward should be mandatory for a person in his position. Compared to other top clubs, I get the impression Woodward waits until he hires a new manager and asks him what kind of players he wants, which leads to overspending on certain players because there was no ground work done before or some players being snatched up long before (Sanches for example) we are in a position to act. While other clubs identify players that bring the team forward long before the transfer window opens and mostly regardless of who their manager is.
Another thing that bothers me, is the whole Van Gaal / Mourinho issue. Why does United hire a coach whose philosophy is clearly based on possession and domination, gives him two years to implement his style only for then hiring a coach who stands for the exact opposite: sitting back, not wanting the ball, hitting on the counter attack. Of course, as Mourinho said himself, it is not easy to change the style so quickly but wouldn't a ceo of a top club plan long-term at least to some degree to realize that this sets United back again and take this into account? So now we wasted two years implementing Van Gaal football only to scrap it all again and start from zero. Where is the concept? I just don't see it. Woodward seems to be so desperate for short term success and does not have enough knowledge about the football side of the business. So, god forbid, Mourinho fails, what is the plan then? Go back to possession football or just look at who is available and start again from zero? United need a long term plan and in my view, which i know is quite unpopular, I think United would have done better sticking with Van Gaal this season or at least get someone who can build on his style of football instead of sacrificing all the work done in a desperate attempt to get back to the top via a shortcut.
