Ed Woodward never recovered from the summer of 2013. Thrown in at the deep end when legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson and CEO David Gill left Manchester United within months of each other, he wanted to make a splash. Instead, it was a flop.
The transfer window, his first as CEO (although he retained the title of executive vice-chairman) and David Moyes' first as manager, began with Woodward frantically departing the club's preseason tour of Australia to tend to "urgent transfer business" amid talk of statement swoops for Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, or Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas.