England is the only footballing nation in the world where the head coach is called a "manager"! It may be tradition, or a matter of school, but it is never a mere difference in words. The title is closely linked to the job.

In other places, the head coach is only responsible for the match, the training ground, and at most decides the team roster. But in most cases, the head coach only makes recommendations, while the decision to buy or sell players rests with the technical director. The technical director even has the right to choose to buy or fire the coach. He decides the budget as well as medium and long-term plans… The technical director is a higher position than the head coach.

In England, the head coach does "everything". He decides the players' salaries, who to buy and sell, where to train in the summer... Previously, MU coach Alex Ferguson even told Wayne Rooney where to buy a house, what foods to ban during the summer vacation. Sir Alex is great! The problem here is: MU doesn't need a technical director but still dominates for a long time. The consequence: the homeland of football becomes backward because of that wrong way of thinking, in the development of modern football. And in this issue, MU is... the most backward.

Now, every club in the Premier League has a technical director (or football director, sporting director, etc.). As for MU, it was not until 2021 that Mr. John Murtough became the first football director in the club's history. Of course, no one knows about Murtough. He works with Technical Director Darren Fletcher (promoted at the same time), and many people inside MU admit: in short, they don't know who does what when there is a professional matter to discuss. Before that, all professional decisions at a higher level than the head coach (such as choosing or firing a coach) belonged to executive vice president Ed Woodward - a complete "outsider" in football.

Mr. Jim Ratcliffe has bought 25% of MU shares, and importantly, he bought... the right to manage football at MU. Better late than never. Mr. Ratcliffe's MU is currently negotiating to bring in famous sports director Dan Ashworth from Newcastle. Southampton's football director Jason Wilcox is also in negotiations. We have to wait and see what happens next. But for now, these are the "right people, right jobs". In the past decade, the role of technical director (or sports director, football director) has become increasingly important in English football. Chelsea is famous for the female character Marina Granovskaia. Man.City has Txiki Begiristain, Liverpool has Julian Ward... Those are all reasons for the success of those clubs.

Choosing a technical director is really a weakness of English football, the previous football did not have this title or role. Because MU was so successful under Sir Alex, they became more and more self-delusional, almost unable to recognize the huge loophole in the club's structure. After parting ways with Sir Alex, MU never found a good or suitable coach, because no one is good at choosing coaches. MU fans now have a little hope, because at least the new owner Jim Ratcliffe has felt this highly technical problem. For a professional club in top football, the role of technical director is even more important than the role of head coach!