Manchester United are once again going through the familiar stages of a Manager (or Head Coach) being under pressure in their role after a string of poor results from the team. This cycle has repeated since the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson signed off with a Premier League title in his final season.

The club have tried all sorts of different types of solutions, legendary ex-players; managers who have won it all; up-and-coming managers. Nothing has worked.

The ownership have clearly been the underlying problem for many years, and part of that has been chasing trends and trying to follow what has succeeded for other clubs, often years after it becomes the standard.

United were slow to appoint a sporting director, and seem to have not yet found a competent one.

This piece is not about how bad the situation is, but that context is important.

What I believe United need to do is to actually be an innovator for a change.

One man can’t fix it

The chances that Manchester United can appoint the next head coach or manager that can solve these problems is very slim. So don’t try and chase that.

This is where I want to see United innovate, I want them to try and solve the issue with two heads rather than one.

United are such a big and complex club that a combination of high quality man management, tactical knowledge and player coaching is required, in a way that is much more achievable with a team that can split these responsibilities.

This approach goes against the current paradigm of having a head coach or a manager, but we have seen every person that takes on the United job fails at some part of those responsibilities.

The United way

I’ve said that this would be innovative, but in many ways it is the United way. Sir Alex Ferguson clearly relied on his assistant managers for a lot of the coaching and perhaps the tactical side of things too. There is no doubt that his man management skills were a key part to his success.

We can’t replicate Sir Alex, but we can learn from what made him so successful for so long.

Finding these people will not be easy. To find two individuals who can share these responsibilities, work together effectively and manage their own egos will be a challenge.

Is it more challenging than finding the one right person who can solve all of Manchester United’s problems? Not in my opinion, no.

We need to try something different.