For a combination of names that must be statistically rare, ‘Edward Woodward’ has always carried inordinate significance.
There was the prominent actor, for a start. And the joke about what to call a man with — what was it? — three planks on his head. But to read the papers you might deem today’s Edward Woodward the most excruciating joke of all.
The new Manchester United chief executive is said to have had a disastrous transfer window, even though United made one major signing, as did Arsenal, whose chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, is not mentioned but whose manager, Arsene Wenger, is generally complimented on Mesut Ozil.
The impression of Woodward is that, by capturing only Marouane Fellaini, he has let a helpless David Moyes down.
No, I don’t understand it either. I do know that clubs are run in differing ways but can’t see Moyes as a bystander, given that he didn’t need much help to conduct perennially smart business at Everton. In addition, United’s much-lauded previous chief executive, David Gill, remains a club director, as does Sir Alex Ferguson. And Moyes’s brother is an agent. In other words, his bank of advice resembles Monte Carlo in the old days.
Maybe there was a policy decision to leave transfers to Woodward. In which case it was a bad one. Transfers are football matters, as Wenger has emphasised. A manager may benefit from the help of a trusted dealer, as Wenger did when David Dein was on the Arsenal board (and Andre Villas-Boas will have done if Franco Baldini’s buys for Spurs come off), but basically he should get the players he wants.
If Moyes, at the relevant time, still had to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Ferguson’s squad and knew only that he fancied nicking Fellaini and Leighton Baines from his former club, that is a credible excuse. So let’s not pile all the blame on Woodward’s head.
