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Ed Woodward has finally resigned as the executive vice-chairman of Manchester United in the wake of the European Super League fiasco and will leave the role at the end of the year and it's safe to say that it has been a long time coming.
The relationship between Ed Woodward and Manchester United fans has been fractured for a long time. Woodward was often viewed as the Glazers' executive lackey, whose main job was to make sure the profit sheet looked pleasing at the end of the financial year.
Woodward has come under fire numerous times for his decisions and fans have always asked for him to be removed from the position from where he was making football decisions. There have been multiple run-ins between Woodward and the Manchester United fans with the latter even attacking his house with flares once.
It's safe to say that Manchester United fans have finally got their wish, with Ed Woodward stepping down from his role at the helm. Without further ado, let's take a look at five times Ed Woodward proved he's not a good fit for Manchester United.
5 times Ed Woodward proved he is not a good fit for Manchester United
#5 Ed Woodward hired David Moyes to replace Sir Alex Ferguson
Most Manchester United fans will agree that hiring David Moyes to replace Sir Alex Ferguson had a lot to do with the club plunging into a slump and enduring years of irrelevance.
If Manchester United had got the right manager to come in, things could have worked out a lot better as the Red Devils had just won the Premier League title with a 11 point lead. David Moyes came to Manchester United with his own coaching staff and removed everyone who worked with Fergie.
It has been suggested from several quarters that his coaching techniques and methods did not suit a club of Manchester United's stature. Moyes also couldn't attract any big names and Marouane Fellaini was the Red Devils' marquee signing of the summer right after they had won the league.
Sir Alex Ferguson also revealed in his book that David Moyes was Manchester United's 'sixth-choice' to replace him and he only got the job because all the other candidates were unavailable.
#4 Selling Memphis Depay and Wilfried Zaha
Manchester United made a lot of terrible decisions in the transfer market under Ed Woodward. One pattern that they seemed to frequent is of jumping the gun when it comes to making decisions in the transfer market.
Manchester United have had a severe shortage of wingers over the past decade. But it's interesting to note that they once had Memphis Depay and Wilfried Zaha on their payroll. They pulled the plug on both Depay and Zaha way too quickly and did not even make much money from their sales.
The Dutchman was sold to Lyon for a fee of £16 million rising to £21.7 million with add-ons. Zaha was also sold to Crystal Palace for a negligible amount of money. But over the next few years, both players proved they had the goods to have gone on to become mainstays at Manchester United.
#3 Signing Alexis Sanchez
Perhaps the biggest transfer flop in the Premier League in recent times, Alexis Sanchez being signed up by Manchester United, was one of the most ill-advised decisions the Red Devils have made in the transfer market.
Alexis Sanchez seemed destined to join Manchester City and it's almost clear to everyone now that Manchester United decided to hijack the move because they didn't want their direct rivals to be further strengthened.
Sanchez had no place in Jose Mourinho's side, which played a disjointed brand of football. The Chilean was paid an exorbitant amount in wages and his entry meant that the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were demoted from the starting XI.
Alexis Sanchez scored a total of five goals for Manchester United across all competitions before being initially shipped out on loan and then sold to Inter Milan. One of the best things that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did after his first half-season as manager of Manchester United was to do away with players like Sanchez who were not a good fit for the club.
#2 Not backing Jose Mourinho in the transfer market
Jose Mourinho guided Manchester United to a second-placed finish in his second season in charge of the club. He then went on to undermine his players by saying that it was his greatest achievement as a manager despite having won multiple trophies all around Europe.
To give Mourinho the benefit of the doubt would be to concede that he was indirectly asking to be backed in the summer transfer window. On the back of a decent league campaign, that is what was expected of the Manchester United board as well.
However, Ed Woodward chose not to get Mourinho his transfer targets and ended up signing Fred, Lee Grant and Diogo Dalot and this greatly soured the relationship between the manager and the club's top brass as the 'Special One' was particular about buying a solid centre-back.
Jose Mourinho's frustration boiled over and it eventually led to his sacking.
#1 Signing up for the European Super League
It's interesting to note that despite making so many poor decisions over the course of the past decade, nothing outlines the disconnect between Ed Woodward and the fans like his signing Manchester United up for the European Super League.
The European Super League fiasco will go down in history as a milestone event in modern day football and it goes to show how powerful the fans' voice is and how relevant it is even today. It was also the final nail in the coffin and there was no escape from it and it obviously had a lot to do with Woodward resigning.
