Ed Woodward's tenure as executive vice-chairman at Man Utd was a disaster and Nemanja Vidic has criticised him.
Vidic has slammed Ed Woodward.(Image: 2013 Manchester United FC)
Nemanja Vidic believes Ed Woodward was out of his depth during his time at Manchester United.
Woodward advised the Glazer family on their acquisition of United in 2005 and he took charge of full operations as the club's executive vice-chairman in 2013, a role he held for nine years.
United spent more than £1billion in transfer fees during Woodward's tenure as executive vice-chairman and only three trophies - FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League - were won during that time.
Woodward's reign was regarded as a failure. The club was subject to a steep decline on the pitch and he departed after the European Super League fiasco.
Vidic was recently interviewed by Gary Neville and the former Serbian defender criticised Woodward for his role in United's slump.
The 43-year-old admitted there was "no chance" he would have predicted United wouldn't win the Premier League for 12 years and counting and added: "My feeling is that Sir Alex Ferguson left, but so did David Gill as well – that’s two big personalities who had been with the club for 25 years.
"They’re difficult to replace and Ed Woodward taking that position, I think was above his knowledge and his capability – that’s my opinion. Obviously, he did fantastic for the club in terms of the marketing and bringing money in, but dealing with agents and players, that role needs someone with experience.
"Even having some ex-footballers around to understand how the players think and how the agent thinks [would have helped].
"At the time, the club didn’t help themselves in terms of not bringing in the knowledge of ex-players like yourself [Gary Neville], Paul Scholes, or Ryan Giggs – someone who has experienced talking with agents.
"I think sometimes with the salaries and the money we’ve paid to certain players, we’ve been cheated. That for me is the problem.
“Recruitment is the biggest thing, bringing in good football players, coaches, medical staff, and I think that they should be careful with what kind of people they bring into certain places.
"To be at Manchester United, you have to be one of the best in the market, and you have to invest in that – maybe even more than in the players and I think that we haven’t done that well.
“It’s difficult to be at United now, to be a football player or the owner – whatever you do, it’s difficult so if you want to change the club, the club has to bring in the characters.
"If the characters aren’t in the club, it is difficult, and you will go through this situation. If you bring in people who are going to be nice, smiling, and saying things that you want to hear, I don’t think that’s the way forward.
"You need people who will take responsibility and be strong enough to say the things they see, even if they have to deal with the consequences."
Vidic was speaking during an interview with Sky Bet's The Overlap.
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