Tuesday 18 December 2018 18:04, UK
Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is not to blame for the club's struggles this season, according to Jamie Redknapp.
United sacked manager Jose Mourinho on Tuesday after a 3-1 defeat to rivals Liverpool left the club 19 points adrift of the Premier League leaders - their worst start to a season in 28 years.
Woodward has been criticised by some sections of the United support over a perceived lack of support for Mourinho in the transfer market.
However, Redknapp believes the Portuguese was given sufficient funding during his time at Old Trafford.
When asked if Woodward was partly to blame for the club's league position, Redknapp said: "I don't agree with that to be honest.
"Ed Woodward doesn't play, he is not the one that gets the players onto the pitch. He's spent fortunes.
"He's given Jose Mourinho pretty much everything he wanted over the last couple of years, pretty much all the players Mourinho has signed, he plays.
"He gave him how much for Pogba and that hasn't worked out. It is not Woodward's fault.
"The last time Manchester United outran a team was Swansea last year. That has got nothing to do with the board.
"Okay, maybe they shouldn't have given him a contract last year but I get that one, I can see why you would want to do it.
"You're trying your best to give the manager an opportunity to get it right, but it hasn't worked. It is not right to blame him for that."
Mourinho clashed with a number of his senior players this season - most notably Paul Pogba, who was stripped of the club vice-captaincy in September.
The pair were filmed by Sky Sports News having an animated disagreement on the training ground later that month and Redknapp believes Mourinho lost the support of the France international this season.
He said: "Pogba is an incredibly talented player and one that you want on side in that dressing room.
"You can see he's a strong character - you only have to look at the World Cup final when he's doing the team talk and everybody is listening to him.
"He had everyone in the palm of his hand in that team, the team that won the World Cup. Why couldn't you get him to be like that for Manchester United? I don't get it - it can't be that hard.
"Everyone you speak to about Paul Pogba says he's a decent lad, a nice guy who wants to win and play football.
"But for some reason Jose has managed to fall out with a lot of his stars. Why has that happened?"
