John Murtough faces being a reluctant poster boy for Man Utd’s summer of woe

John Murtough has swerved the spotlight but Man Utd’s football director will struggle to dodge the fallout unless he somehow saves a miserable summer.

A huge fortnight lies ahead for Manchester United. And the outlook seems bleak indeed.

This was supposed to be a pivotal summer, but the Red Devils’ recruitment struggles and the wretched start on the pitch under Erik ten Hag have left United in arguably their worst state since Sir Alex Ferguson retired

The knives are out already for Ten Hag but one man has his balls on the chopping block ahead of anyone else between now and September 1: John Murtough.

As United’s first official football director, we have to hold Murtough accountable for United’s shambolic approach to a critical close season and transfer window. Of course, Murtough can only work under the constraints allowed by the Glazer family, but even accounting for those shackles, United’s have sh*t their bed this summer.

Those days were supposed to have passed. The Red Devils have plenty of form for self-sabotage and, in the past, it was Ed Woodward with his finger on the trigger as United pointed the gun at their own feet.

Woodward wasn’t a football man, his strengths lay in other areas, which made it so baffling, if not surprising, that United took so long to move with the times and hire a football director.

Finally, more than two years after they begrudgingly accepted the need for such an appointment upon Jose Mourinho’s sacking, Murtough was promoted to the position in March 2021.

Prior to that, the Mancunian had been working for the club since December 2013, when he was brought from Everton by David Moyes. His role before being named as football director was head of football development, with an overall responsibility for the academy and the women’s set-up too – areas in which Murtough has an extremely strong body of work.

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Perhaps his remit remains too wide. He is still line manager for the academy and all football operations. Those duties alongside chasing senior players across Europe make for a busy schedule indeed.

Murtough clearly needs help. Darren Fletcher is there to lend a helping hand but the former midfielder seems to have become United’s jack of all trades. He was appointed as technical director when Murtough took the football director gig. But after three months in which he had Fletcher by his side on the bench and at…