On Monday, their share price dropped on the New York stock exchange to a three-year low of £9.61. In the slide, which came a day after United’s 1-1 draw at Chelsea and which reversed slightly as trading went on, shares were valued at their lowest level since December 2012. Van Gaal’s side are now six points off fourth position in the league, raising the prospect of missing out on the Champions League, which would appear to make the manager’s position untenable for next season.
Woodward is a master performer in such conference calls, armed as he is with an impressive commercial track record, but it will be interesting to see whether any of the analysts deviate from questions on the club’s e-commerce and retail kit prospects to try to pin him down on Van Gaal’s future or the ramifications of not finishing in the top four.
Woodward has been used to delivering good news. His last report showed that revenues up to the end of last September had risen by 39.3 per cent to £123.6 million, boosted by sales of the team’s new replica kit under a record-breaking £750 million deal with Adidas and a return to the Champions League.
The expected strong quarterly results – and United last week announced another commercial partnership with 20th Century Fox to promote its film and distribution business – would doubtless calm the markets.
Although United have a policy of not commenting on speculation over the manager’s future, club sources have pointed to the strength of Van Gaal’s recent rebuke – before and after the Chelsea match – when questioned over his future as an indication that he is being kept informed by Woodward, who remains a strong supporter of the Dutchman and is desperate for him to succeed.
However, the Mourinho camp have let it be known that a dialogue has occurred with United – although who initiated those talks remain unclear – and the Portuguese is understood to have told friends that he expects to return to work by taking up the job at Old Trafford this summer.
It would be difficult to see how Woodward could persist with Van Gaal into the final year of his contract if the club miss out on Champions League football and do not win a cup competition this season.
Given Mourinho’s ready availability since he was sacked by Chelsea and his desire to eventually succeed Van Gaal at United then he would automatically be in contention. It remains to be seen whether Mourinho is the only candidate under consideration at United who also admire the Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone and Tottenham Hotspur’s Mauricio Pochettino.
United sacked the former Everton manager David Moyes – the successor selected by Ferguson – in April 2014 after it became clear they would not qualify for the Champions League although the club has maintained the situation is different with Van Gaal.
United face the Danish champions Midtjylland in the Europa League with the first leg of their last-32 tie taking a place in Denmark next week. Winning that competition may represent their best opportunity of earning a place in the Champions League.
While Van Gaal remains angered at suggestions that he is facing the sack, the long-serving midfielder Michael Carrick – linked with close-season free-transfer moves to his previous club Spurs and Newcastle United – was the latest to suggest a top-four finish is still possible.
Carrick said: “We have to battle on, keep going and play something like we have been doing over the last few weeks and then see where that takes us. There is plenty to play for this month and of course plenty of points to play for in the league. We’re not giving anything up yet.”
Mourinho, meanwhile, got the stamp of approval from his former player Thiago Motta. The Paris St-Germain midfielder, who worked with Mourinho at Inter Milan, where he won a treble of the Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia, described the manager as “brave enough” to take on the challenge of bringing success back to the Old Trafford club.
“It takes a brave coach to go there now, but Jose is brave enough,” Motta said. “For the last three seasons, Manchester United have not been the club that people are used to. I know there would be pressure on Jose to get United back to winning trophies, but that will not bother him. “In my experience, Jose does not feel pressure. He has such belief in his abilities.
“The Jose that you see in interviews is also the Jose who the players see. He really is that confident in himself.”
Van Gaal leaves United
- Telegraph