‘Zero understanding of football’ – Former Man Utd boss blasts Ed Woodward

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Ex-Man Utd coach Louis van Goal has slammed his former chief executive at Old Trafford, questioning Ed Woodward’s understanding of the game.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill left the Red Devils, they’ve encountered a tricky period in trying to achieve sustained success with the likes of Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho delivering silverware in the cup competitions.

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However, they haven’t been able to end their wait for another Premier League title in that time, and Van Gaal has seemingly pointed the finger directly at Woodward for being the problem in United’s struggles.

Whether it’s an inability to bring in top transfer targets or perhaps just understanding the football club outside of a business perspective, Van Gaal has publicly slammed the Man Utd chief.

“At Bayern, the people in charge are football men. I always appreciated that,” Van Gaal told German magazine 11 Freunde, as reported by Sky Sports.

“At Manchester United, on the other hand, Ed Woodward was installed as CEO – somebody with zero understanding of football who was previously an investment banker. It cannot be a good thing when a club is run solely from a commercially-driven perspective.”

Time will tell if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will experience similar problems in the coming months, as this summer is going to be crucial for Man Utd to get back on the right track.

Having finished outside of the top four in the Premier League again this past season and without any trophies, the Norwegian tactician will be desperate for reinforcements this summer to ensure that they can improve next year and start to compete for major honours.

Based on Van Gaal’s assessment of Woodward above though, perhaps he’ll need a sporting director with a wider knowledge of the game to help him with off the field matters rather than relying on the chief executive to run that side of the club.

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