Woodward says he ‘delivered’ in transfer window; sees Ole ‘progress’
Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward believes he “delivered” in the summer by strengthening the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad, while he sees “progress” under the Norwegian.
Fans have begun to return to some stadiums on a limited basis this week after the country entered a tier system again, although games at Old Trafford – as a tier three venue – remain behind closed doors.
Woodward said at the fans forum that United were “confident in our ability to host fans in a safe, socially-distanced environment once we get the go-ahead.”
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Woodward also stressed the belief there was at the club in boss Solskjaer despite a mixed start to the new season.
United’s most recent game had seen them bounce back from defeats to Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir with a 3-1 win at Everton – they have subsequently beaten West Brom, Basaksehir and Southampton before losing 3-1 to Paris St Germain on Wednesday.
“We recognise there’s more hard work ahead to achieve the consistency needed to win trophies,” Woodward said.
“But we see positive signs on the pitch and the training ground that reinforce our belief in the progress being made by Ole, his coaching team and the players.”
He added: “I told this forum in April that we remained committed to strengthening the squad, while being disciplined in our spending during the pandemic.
“I believe we’ve delivered on that, with the additions we made during the summer taking our total net spending to over 200m euros (£180m) since summer 2019 – more than any other major European club over that period.
“We will continue to support Ole with a planned, long-term approach to recruitment, focused on the summer windows.”