Keith Gillespie insists he is not surprised that Ed Woodward has resigned from his role at Manchester United after a number of failed pursuits of players in recent years.

Woodward resigned from his role as executive vice-chairman following the fiasco surrounding the European Super League, though he will remain in his post until the end of 2021.

His departure came amid a wave of anger towards the club’s ownership, leading to a protest from fans that saw the angry supporters invade Old Trafford and force the postponement of a clash with Liverpool.

Since then, United have reached the Europa League final, though they lost on penalties to Villarreal, and are now heading into the transfer window attempting to strengthen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.

It remains to be seen if those plans come to fruition but Gillespie has pointed to the fact that various players have been linked with United over the years, only to fail to materialise in the end.

Woodward has previously led pursuits of Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund, Cesc Fabregas when he was with Barcelona, Mats Hummels when he played for Dortmund, Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid and Antoine Griezmann at Atletico Madrid, all per Planet Football.

As a result, Gillespie has not been shocked by the supremo’s decision to step down.

He told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview: “There was a lot of players touted as coming to United that didn’t materialise.

“It’s no surprise whatsoever to me. In terms of what the United fans want, they didn’t want him in, they don’t want the Glazers there.

“Whether they’ll follow suit, I don’t know.”