Bleak. Bleak probably best describes the mood of Manchester United fans as the club enters another transfer window looking to reboot, this time under the auspices of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian, for his part, is hoping that executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, will be able to deliver the players required to move United forward – and let go of those who are below the requisite standard. But does anyone expect Woodward to run the football side of the club with any degree of competency? The one constant in United’s slide to mediocrity has been Woodward who has no vision for how the club ..read more

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hirty-two points from 36. It’s a remarkable tally, Ole’s remarkable tally. Then there was that night in Paris where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, this time as a coach, once again added to United’s rich European tapestry of successes. The turnaround overseen by Solskjaer since he took on José Mourinho’s wreckage has been nothing short of astounding. United are a club that believes again. The Norwegian has answered most questions thrown his way in just a few short weeks in the job. Victory over PSG was the latest example, but before that United’s draw with Liverpool offered ..read more

Once upon crisis, at the close of an underwhelming summer transfer window, the spotlight turned to Ed Woodward, the Manchester United executive vice chairman. Woodward decided, in all his wisdom, to announce that the club would recruit a Director of Football. Over the course of a thus far disappointing campaign Woodward has managed to reel in talk of a complete overhaul by ‘clarifying’ the club’s position. Firstly, insisting that a Technical Director would be hired and not a Director of Football and then confirming that any appointment would be made once José Mourinho leaves Old Trafford ..read more

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ast the memory back to moments after the transfer window closed in August. José Mourinho was already in a huff during Manchester United’s summer tour, holding little back in his critique of the summer’s business. The United manager also let slip that he had submitted a five-man wish-list to executive vice chairman Ed Woodward well before the end of the last campaign. In the run-up to the window’s closure the club was linked with moves for Diego Godín, Jérôme Boateng and Harry Maguire. Meanwhile, the long-running pursuit of Toby Alderweireld came to nothing. In the end, Unit ..read more

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he recent events surrounding Manchester United – both on and off the pitch – have created an embarrassing air around the club. Gary Neville’s scathing, yet heartfelt, attack on the state of the club two weeks ago resonated with many supporters. Yet, in focusing his displeasure on Ed Woodward alone, Neville failed to address two other issues: United’s ownership and the manager’s failing performances. While the Chief Executive and those above must take much of the blame for the failures of the past five years, Mourinho is as key contributor to United’s crisis. The drama ..read more

Wrecking Ball: José’s Ode to Marouane Marouane Fellaini walks into Mourinho’s office.   Fellaini: You wanted to see me boss? Mourinho: Sit down.   José closes the door, plays Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and begins to sing…   I picked, you played, ne-ver complained, They jeer and I don’t know why, You foul, I yell “oh bloo-dy hell”, You just let your elbows fly,   You don’t ever say, “I can’t play José”, I will always pick you, Scott McTominay will not take your place, I will always pick you,   Fellaini you’re my wrecking ball, Your chest control is wonderful, Sign you ..read more

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]inancially, Manchester United is the world’s élite club. A summary of finances for 2016-17 shows revenues totalling £581 million; larger than Real Madrid or Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain or Manchester City. Despite huge investments in terms of player recruitment, contracts and signing on fees, a profit of near £40 million was also achieved. Meanwhile, the projected revenue for the current financial year is guided to reach £575 to £585 million. Noisy neighbours Manchester City may have the backing of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth, but it is United that still leads the w ..read more

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he transfer of Alexis Sánchez from Arsenal to Manchester United put a spring in the step of United supporters when it was announced last month. In one swoop, José Mourinho and Ed Woodward recruited a top class player, while also dispensing, in the shape of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, an underperforming one. So far so good, but United’s manager admitted that the signing would impact on the club’s post-season transfer plans, perhaps even when it comes to Mourinho’s plan to strengthen in central midfield. It is probably a reasonable line of thinking, but what followed from t ..read more

Bleak. Bleak probably best describes the mood of Manchester United fans as the club enters another transfer window looking to reboot, this time under the auspices of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian, for his part, is hoping that executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, will be able to deliver the players required to move United forward – and let go of those who are below the requisite standard. But does anyone expect Woodward to run the football side of the club with any degree of competency? The one constant in United’s slide to mediocrity has been Woodward who has no vision for how the club ..read more

When Manchester United were searching for a new shirt sponsor in 2009, the commercial team prepared mock shirts with different companies’ names and logos and sent them to executives at each of the targets. The insurance company Aon became United’s shirt sponsor after “a sample shirt had landed unsolicited on the desk of Aon’s new marketing head, Phil Clement,” wrote Tehsin Nayani in The Glazer Gatekeeper. The Glazer family’s former PR man described how United would approach potential sponsors directly, rather than wait for sponsors to come to them. “No need to imagine what it would be like for ..read more