Ed Woodward has paid the price for Manchester United’s attempts to join a European Super League.
It was announced last night that Woodward will step down from his role at the end of 2021.
The decision comes following a manic 48 hours in which United signed up to a Super League alongside 11 other European powerhouses before pulling out amid a backlog of rage from supporters, pundits and players alike.
The MEN understands Woodward always intended for this to be his last full campaign as the club’s executive vice-chairman, but the events of the last few days have hastened the announcement.
Woodward has been in the role for eight years since succeeding David Gill in 2013 and before that he was a trusted ally of the Glazer family behind the scenes at Old Trafford.
Reacting to Woodward’s exit, United legend Gary Neville said: "The leeches could have thrown him under a bus, there’s no doubt about that.
“Or it could be that the sensible thing has happened, that Ed Woodward knew it was going to get too hot in the kitchen for him in the next few months and he needed to get out of there.”
The Glazers haven’t yet apologised for dragging the club’s name through the mud after confirming United would not be participating in the Super League via a short statement on Tuesday night.
“Manchester United will not be participating in the European Super League,” said the statement.
“We have listened carefully to the reaction from our fans, the UK government and other key stakeholders.
“We remain committed to working with others across the football community to come up with sustainable solutions to the long-term challenges facing the game.”
The idea of a European Super League has been mooted for decades, but this is the closest it has ever got to becoming reality.
United’s owners were at the forefront of the plans and Joel Glazer was appointed as one of two vice-chairmen to Florentino Perez.
And comments Woodward made on the Glazers just months before being named United’s executive vice-chairman in 2013 highlighted their intentions.
"They don't view us as even being at base camp in terms of climbing the mountain of what we can do with this business,” he told the BBC.
"Our debt, taking a house comparison, is like a mortgage. And it's small relative to the value of the business. And the person living inside it is getting richer and richer and richer in terms of income every year.
"We're verging on £100million more a year of commercial revenue than when the Glazers bought the club."
