Having seen the reports coming out of Jurgen Klopp’s book I must say the description of Woodward’s pitch to get Klopp in for the manager’s job is toe-curling.
So it turns out Woodward went to see Klopp a couple of weeks before Moyes’ sacking and Klopp was left unimpressed by his presentation where he described Manchester United as “an adult version of Disneyland – a mythical place where entertainment was worldclass and dreams came true”. If this was what Woodward truly thinks then he is living in coockoo land and needs a visit from the men in long white coats.
Instead of trying to entice Klopp with cheap sales talk like that he should have been telling him what plans are in place to restore the club, what the medium terms strategy looked like and how Klopp fits into that strategy. What the football ethos would be, what changes were needed and how Klopp’s strong points fit into those required changes etc.
Alas, Woodward walked in there with his Hollywood big-shot talk and gave the (correct) impression that all United was about is the glitz and the glamour. Klopp chose to stay at Dortmund and in came LvG – the rest is history.
Clearly Woodward is a sleazy salesman and it showed through. Hopefully he now realizes that the managers want to be enabled on the football pitch. Stop with your Charlie and the Chocolate factory talk and talk about football FFS.