Was talking to a mate over the festive period (he's a Liverpool fan...), and we were talking about how every PL club will always have someone who is essentially the 'face of the club', or the 'figurehead' - might be a manager, might be a talisman player, might be an owner etc.
Obviously Utd has been built for over 25 years on a Cult of Personality, with Ferguson's image as the central focus, and for many PL clubs the manager is the face of the club - Liverpool with Klopp, Guardiola at City, Dyche at Burnley, Howe at Bournemouth and so on.
Other club's owners, for better or worse are the current face of their club - Daniel Levy, Abramovich, Tan Family (R.I.P to their former owner), Mike Ashley etc.
Some clubs will also have a player who is the face of the club - Vardy, Kane, Aguero, Noble at W.Ham, Terry when at Chelsea, Gerrard etc.
Yet for Utd, the actual owners are too hands off and distant to be viewed as the face of the club, and the managers post Fergie haven't had the power over the club needed to stake such a claim... the players are lacking any leaders at all, let alone one so strong that they could be viewed as 'face of the club'.
So the question is - who is the face of this, current Manchester United?
My mate put it to me that Ed Woodard is actually the face of Utd now... he's overseen every decision post Fergie, he's involved with the First Team (somehow), he oversees financial matters, and he's a regular sight at games home and away.
I scoffed initially, but the more I think about it, I think he's right.
I believe that we've slowly allowed our club to essentially become Ed Woodward Utd...
What say you lot - is there someone else I'm overlooking? For better or worse, who is the figurehead of current Manchester United? Whose identity is most upon this team / club at present?
Obviously Utd has been built for over 25 years on a Cult of Personality, with Ferguson's image as the central focus, and for many PL clubs the manager is the face of the club - Liverpool with Klopp, Guardiola at City, Dyche at Burnley, Howe at Bournemouth and so on.
Other club's owners, for better or worse are the current face of their club - Daniel Levy, Abramovich, Tan Family (R.I.P to their former owner), Mike Ashley etc.
Some clubs will also have a player who is the face of the club - Vardy, Kane, Aguero, Noble at W.Ham, Terry when at Chelsea, Gerrard etc.
Yet for Utd, the actual owners are too hands off and distant to be viewed as the face of the club, and the managers post Fergie haven't had the power over the club needed to stake such a claim... the players are lacking any leaders at all, let alone one so strong that they could be viewed as 'face of the club'.
So the question is - who is the face of this, current Manchester United?
My mate put it to me that Ed Woodard is actually the face of Utd now... he's overseen every decision post Fergie, he's involved with the First Team (somehow), he oversees financial matters, and he's a regular sight at games home and away.
I scoffed initially, but the more I think about it, I think he's right.
I believe that we've slowly allowed our club to essentially become Ed Woodward Utd...
What say you lot - is there someone else I'm overlooking? For better or worse, who is the figurehead of current Manchester United? Whose identity is most upon this team / club at present?
