The renowned organizational consultant, Will Hogg once stated that for organizational change to occur there are four key requirements;
1. A case for change 2. A compelling picture of the future 3. Sustained capability to change 4. A credible plan to execute
In the case of Manchester United there is tangible evidence to suggest points 1–3 are fulfilled. Nonetheless it is the club's inability to hatch a credible plan to execute which is generating much ill-fated publicity which has become as pathetic as the club's recent demise. Many will argue that is the inevitable consequence of a fundamental lack of organization which has been accelerated since the latter Sir Alex Ferguson years with Ed Woodward shown as the chief culprit. Moreover it could be pointed to the Glazer's insistence on operating the football club like a Fortune500 company. What is clear though that there is organizational problems systemic through the Old Trafford Club. Little of the commercial success off-field has been representative of what has been happening on the pitch. Normally that task of formulating strategy for on pitch affairs would go to a director of football. That person would also oversee recruitment and assist the manager with management duties. Given the size of Manchester United there are largely two main brackets of technical director to choose from.
1. Those who perform management duties or planning of squads; think Monchi of Sevilla or Michael Edwards at Liverpool 2. Coach supporter / mentor; think Michael Zorc of Borussia Dortmund or Stuart Webber of Norwich
The best clubs have a hybrid between the two; take Manchester City and Txiki Begiristain for example.
Unfortunately for Manchester United however the position remains unfilled. As a result in basic recruitment terms they are yet to define what the problem is. The club is metaphorically shooting for a target they cannot see. Laurie Whitehall of the Athletic recently detailed the 113 players United were linked with between November 1 and January 31 as listed below. A full list is documented below;
Goalkeepers: 2 Nathan Bishop (Southend United), Brad Young (Hartlepool) Defenders: 21 Logan Pye (Sunderland), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Marash Kumbulla (Verona), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Issa Diop (West Ham United), Ben White (Leeds United), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Christian Kabasele (Watford), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester City), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), Layvin Kurzawa (Paris Saint-Germain), Nelson Semedo (Barcelona), Jean-Clair Todibo (Barcelona), Ruben Dias (Benfica), Valentin Antov (CSKA Sofia), Merih Demiral (Juventus), Mohammed Salisu (Real Valladolid), Milan Skriniar (Inter Milan), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Daniele Rugani (Juventus) Midfielders: 45 Eric-Junior Dina Ebimbe (Paris-Saint Germain), Matias Vecino (Inter Milan), Efrain Morales (Atlanta United), Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Sean Longstaff (Newcastle United), Todd Cantwell (Norwich City), Gedson Fernandes (Benfica), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Agustin Almendra (Boca Juniors), Fabian Ruiz (Napoli), Boubakary Soumare (Lille), Donny van de Beek (Ajax), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Jude Bellingham (Birmingham City), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), Dani Olmo (Dinamo Zagreb), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Eduardo Camavinga (Rennes), Leandro Paredes (Paris Saint-Germain), Sandro Tonali (Brescia), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Arturo Vidal (Barcelona), Dejan Kulusevski (Atalanta), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon), Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta United), Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), James Maddison (Leicester City), Matheus Pereira (West Bromwich Albion), Gianluca Busio (Sporting Kansas City), Emre Can (Juventus), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur), Dwight McNeil (Burnley), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Declan Rice (West Ham United), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Sander Berge (Genk) Forwards: 45 Maxi Gomez (Valencia), Jean-Kevin Augustin (RB Leipzig), Islam Slimani (Leicester City), Carlos Tevez (Boca Juniors), Fernando Llorente (Napoli), Krzysztof Piatek (AC Milan), Wayne Rooney (Derby County), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Raul Jimenez (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Lucas Moura (Tottenham Hotspur), Luka Jovic (Real Madrid), Takumi Minamino (Red Bull Salzburg), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Vedat Muriqi (Fenerbahce), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Richarlison (Everton), Mathis Rayan Cherki (Lyon), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Erling Haaland (Red Bull Salzburg), Ricky-Jade Jones (Peterborough United), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Edin Dzeko (Roma), Danny Loader (Reading), Joe Gelhardt (Wigan Athletic), Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Jovan Malcolm (West Bromwich Albion), Memphis Depay (Lyon), Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (LA Galaxy), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Moussa Dembele (Lyon), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Salomon Rondon (Dalian Yifang), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Josh King (Bournemouth), Teemu Pukki (Norwich City), Adolfo Gaich (San Lorenzo), Danny Ings (Southampton), Odion Ihgalo (Shanghai Shenhua)
Although rumours concerning signings such as Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney can be taken with a pinch of salt there have been widely publicised fallouts to United's pursuits of Erling Haaland, Joshua King, Islam Slimani, Bruno Fernandes and Odion Ighalo. Furthermore when it came to Jean-Kevin Agustin the club made ill-fated attempts at the 23rd hour to prize the French forward from Championship Leeds United. Meanwhile in the instance of Takumi Minimino, the club hierarchy were unaware over his £8million release clause. Although Marcus Rashford's injury forced United's hands in searching for a backup striker, it can be argued that Bournemouth wide forward Joshua King offers a distinguished skillset to the penalty box prowess of Odion Ighalo. Logan Pye (Sunderland), Jude Bellingham (Birmingham) and Joe Geldhardt albeit all prospects for the future are not the profile of signing United should be attempting to sign at this present time. Therefore one can state that Manchester United are a club lacking clear foresight in strategy when it comes to recruitment. The modern day definition of a Manchester United player is muddled. This is where the role of a technical director comes in. Since the latter Ferguson years there has been a clear lack of thought behind both the type of manager and player Manchester United have coveted. Signings of established Champions League and World Cup players such as Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao in 2014 are a far cry to the recent acquisitions of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James in 2019. Where Jose Mourinho's track record of winning was in vogue, soon it was Solskjaer and a pathway to the first team. Hence it would be fair to suggest that their strategy if any has evolved. Going forward the recruitment problem is one which can be split into three different categories;
- 1. Technical Director - 2. Manager - 3. Players
1. TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
This perhaps being the most critical area which needs attending to. It is apparent that United not only require a technical director to facilitate some structure and give some order to the chaos but also a figurehead, someone that embodies the core values of the football club. Perhaps then as United look to their future they should embrace their past. Former players such as Rio Ferdinand and Darren Fletcher have been endorsed for the role. However their inexperience might be a tick against both when compared to their former teammate, Edwin Van der Sar who for which this position is made. Nonetheless if the club were to cast the net further there are personnel such as Victor Orta and Stuart Webber. Both are proven shrewd operators in the transfer market and furthermore have elevated academies at Leeds, Huddersfield and Norwich respectively. A technical director with the academy at the forefront of his mind will surely be a plus in their favour. Yet how equipped would they be to step up to a club the size of Manchester United is another concern. Finally there is the tried and tested formula in the experienced Luis Campos and ex-PSG Antero Henrique who could help United in their nefarious dealings with agents. Whether Manchester United seek to acknowledge the reality of the present day or look back fondly to that of ten years ago will dictate the strategy which the club follows.
2. MANAGER
Once the position of technical director is filled, the club will firm its gaze upon the precarious managerial position. There has been alarming disparity between the appointments of Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho and Solskjaer. In the space of seven years United went full circle from the untested David Moyes to the proven tactical nous of Louis Van Gaal. Once Van Gaal failed to appease United fans cravings the infamous Jose Mourinho was hired to establish the winning foundations United were once built upon negating the core footballing principles which accompanied the club's rise to prominence. Then when inevitable adversity struck United turned to one of their own in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who unfortunately given his legendary status with United fans is becoming the longest stopgap in top flight history. Although Solskjaer cannot be completely absent from fault he has merely inherited problems instead of creating new ones. Manchester United's next managerial hire is of utmost importance and one which they can ill-afford to get wrong. When recruiting a new manager some of the questions the new United technical director with fellow board members need to ask should include the following;
- Where is the club at? Where do we want to be in three to five years? - What is our budget? Do we want to bring in experienced players? Do we need younger players to bring through? - Do we need a coach or a manager? - Do they fit our current club needs? - Does their tactical style match what we want to do as a club? What does your training methodology look like? What does a week look like in coaching? - Does their personality work within our structure? - Can they communicate clearly with players? With management? - Can they develop younger players?
Although Moyes received the seal of approval from Sir Alex his personality was not befitting of the job at hand. Despite being tactically astute and having the persona to work at club of United's magnitude, Van Gaal and Mourinho for instance struggled to communicate clearly with both hierarchy and players. Despite Van Gaal's reputation for developing young players it was the recruitment of established ageing professionals during his tenure which led to his eventual undoing. Although the appointment of Mourinho reminded the United faithful of the club's standing it simply was not want the club required at that time. Where Solskjaer had appeared at the right time and provided a stabilizing calming influence to internal strife, he does not have the tactical acumen or training methodology to perform sustainably. It might sound like a lot of requirements however given the state of affairs Manchester United have found themselves in, they can ill afford to recruit unsuccessfully. Once the above is substantiated then typically a club will look towards more conceptual and practical questions.
CONCEPTUAL QUESTIONS
- what would you LIKE to do? - What is your academy producing? Why? - Should it be aligned with the first team style, or should you keep it more generic in case something changes down the road? - How does that change what you are looking for in a head coach now and in the future?
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
- Do you have the squad to play this style currently? - If not, will you recruit players that can execute it in the next window? - Do you need a bridge coach between what you have currently and where you would like to end up? - in-game tactical adjustments, substitution patterns, squad rotation, incorporation of young players
Never mind what Manchester United want, what do they need? This will be answered in Part 3.
3. PLAYERS
Manchester United are a club revered for the flowing, exhilarating football of the 90's and noughties. Progressive attacking football is ingrained within the club's DNA. Moreover an ability to include the maverick talents of a Cantona, Giggs, Ronaldo or Van Persie was embedded on the solid principles of teamwork and solid organization. Only individuality could flourish when the group effort was accounted and accompanying framework was set in place. Roy Keane's presence allowed the likes of Cantona and a young Ryan Giggs to lay siege on opposing defences. Darren Fletcher and Ji Sung Park although quality players in their own rights earned starting berths enabling Cristiano Ronaldo to reach the highest of highs at Old Trafford. In Ferguson's final campaign Robin Van Persie romped United home to their last Premier League title despite in what was brandished as one of United's weakest ever teams.
It is clear to state United have got the balance wrong in both directions recently. On one hand that balance has been ceded as part of a need to accommodate the likes of a marquee talent in Paul Pogba or even Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In an effort to wrestle back some power, Solskjaer and the board took the opportunity during last pre-season to get rid of high earners in Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez. However this left United entering the 2019/20 campaign woefully short. Although Premier League quality it would be a stretch to say the likes of Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira although developed at Carrington are deserving of starting positions at a club aspiring to compete in the Champions League next season. That is not to say that the club's academy are not producing the required talent for the first team. Mason Greenwood has shown aplenty already to suggest he can grace the top echelons for years to come. Meanwhile Scott McTominay has been at the heart of everything good behind United this season. Likewise the courage and fight in Brandon Williams has proven a welcome antidote to the apathy shown by some of his colleagues. It is getting the balance right in providing a stage for these emerging talents to prosper along with making room for elite level players that will be key to United returning to compete on all fronts. Where they should look to strengthen along with whom will be in Part 4.
***In Part 2 we will examine the candidates for the role of technical director.