Ed Woodward Photo: VCG

Manchester United's oft ­maligned executive vice chairman Ed Woodward leaves the club on February 1 and history will decide how his tenure will be viewed.

Woodward, according to those close to him, thinks that he leaves the club in a better place than when he took over, others are not so sure.

The former KPMG executive, who was integral to the Glazer family's takeover of the Old Trafford club, was appointed to the newly created role of executive vice chairman in February 2013, effective from July 1.

He was dealt a bad hand early on - longtime boss Alex Ferguson revealed in their first long lunch meeting that he would be retiring at the end of the season and Woodward's first task would be to welcome a new manager to replace the Scot.

United finished first under Ferguson in his final season but by the time Woodward arrived in the job for his first day of work it was David Moyes in charge of the English Premier League champions.

That was the start of a new era for Manchester United, now with Woodward walking away the question is whether his departure marks the end of an error?

Moyes lasted 10 months despite being anointed by Ferguson and he was not the last one to find the Old Trafford manager's job to be a poisoned chalice. Big names followed in the form of Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho - both of whom won trophies during their time in Manchester - before the club opted for a "cultural reset" with the feelgood factor provided by former fan favorite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian matched Mourinho in finishing second but neither was anywhere near the champions.

Solskajer went late last year with the club opting for an interim manager, which caused confusion from fans and pundits alike, though Ralf Rangnick has made a solid start in terms of results in his first 10 games and some are positive about the consultancy role that the German will take on after the end of the season. The bigger concern surrounds the decision to let Soslkjaer go just months after handing him a new contract and the managers that Woodward missed out on.

During his time in charge, the club failed to appoint Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel - all of whom were available at some point and have since gone on to take their rivals to silverware, with the exception of Pochettino who took Spurs to a first UEFA Champions League final.

Woodward famously riled fans with a quote to the club's investors on a call in May 2018. "Playing performance doesn't really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business." While he is said to regret that comment, it has largely rung true as the club have struggled to reach the highs of the Ferguson era on the pitch.

United won three trophies in Woodward's eight and a half years - the FA Cup under Van Gaal in the days before he was replaced by Mourinho and the UEFA Europa League and Carabao Cup in the first season under the Portuguese. They came close last season under Solskjaer, who matched Mourinho's best English Premier League finish, but lost the Europa League final to Villareal on penalites.

Moyes commented on the commercial expectations put on the players during his first - and only - preseason tour, asking if that happened under his predecessor, but the club has largely marched on commercially.

Some supporters have seen Woodward as a scapegoat for the direction of the club. This came to a head in September 2018 with a banner flown from an aeroplane over Turf Moor that read "Ed Woodward specialist in failure" and attacks online.

If there were to be an asterisk to that pithy summary of his time at Old Trafford, it would be that the club has not raised season ticket prices during his time in charge and that they did not furlough staff when the UK implemented the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 - unlike some of their rival clubs. 

Woodward was also more available than his predecessor David Gill, even taking an interview with the ­long-standing Manchester United fanzine United We Stand.

While he has been open, too much of what happened under him has been confused, convoluted and poorly communicated - and right from the start.

Woodward told the media he was leaving his first preseason tour to take care of "urgent transfer business."

They ended up with Marouane Fellaini for more money than they needed to pay, missing out on his release clause trigger as he signed a new contract, and the feeling that other clubs, players and agents were using them. That first summer United publicly failed in bids  for Ander Herrera, Sami Khedira and Daniele de Rossi, while a loan move for Fabio Coentrao collapsed.

Still they spent and spent. Van Gaal was given 200 million pounds and brought in 11 players, Mourinho was handed 363.8 million and Solskjaer another 412 million.

Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and ­Angel di Maria all arrived with huge price tags and expectations to match but none have lived up to them, while the Alexis Sanchez swap deal looks more unusual by the day. Time will tell how Ronaldo's second coming will be seen.

It has never been clear how much Woodward was involved in player recruitment, but he was pictured flying to Barcelona in 2015 to try to secure Neymar and the club did not quash articles referring to him as the de facto director of football. Woodward insists football decision were made by those employed on the football side of the club.

The delineation is cleaner as Woodward walks into the sunset, though he will be in meetings until June 1. His successor Richard Arnold will leave the football to John Murtough and Darren Fletcher, with Rangnick to join them at the end of the season. Woodward is expected to stay in football and there are plenty of suitors who will look to his commercial success with United.

They will have to look past the record that saw him amass more managers than trophies in his time in charge of the "world's greatest football club."