Chaos induced by coronavirus has accentuated Man United weakness - and need for obvious solution

A common thread runs through the Premier League’s, unexpected, top five.

Waves of disruption and uncertainty have rippled through European football since March’s serious onset of coronavirus on the continent. Guiding lights to help clubs navigate such unchartered, and perilous, waters are a must.

This is where a learned director of football – or similar role – is most felt. From Marcel Brands at enlivening pacesetters Everton, to fifth-placed Liverpool’s original “laptop guru” in Michael Edwards, all boast football experts at the helm.

This, of course, isn’t an immutable law.

Manchester City, with Txiki Begiristain, and Brighton & Hove Albion, with Dan Ashworth, sit 14^th and 15^th headed into the international break. Daniel Levy’s influence still remains undiluted at sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, with a recent board restructure seeing Trevor Birch, Rebecca Caplehorn and Steve Hitchen all feed into the omnipresent chairman.

Further afield, a succession of administrators couldn’t prevent the decaying of the relationship between the exasperated Lionel Messi and Barcelona. This summer’s soap opera has been paused for 12 months.

What is inarguable, though, is that in a modern game defined by increasing complexity and competing interests, a holistic structure is essential to long-term success. DoFs, when appropriately identified and entrusted, are employed to fulfil this exacting task.

Their absence, however, is most present at perennial transfer window disasters Manchester United. Sunday’s 6-1 humiliation at home to Spurs was, predictably, followed by the unbecoming scramble for signings before Monday night’s deadline typical under the degrading stewardship of reviled executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

A coherent club would have solved glaring issues at centre-back, left-back and right wing in August, before adding a delightful late flourish with a veteran striker and some promising youngsters. Delayed arrivals for Brazil back-up Alex Telles and rusty Edinson Cavani – not called up this month by Uruguay after last playing competitively in March – look haphazard, rather than planned.

Untested teenagers Facundo Pellistri of Penarol and Amad Traore of Atalanta were secured on the wings, when briefs kept being sent out that an exhaustive list of experienced alternatives were lined up in case a hyped chase for Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho went nowhere.

Both kids may prove excellent deals in the fullness of time. Necessary perspective about the doomsday casting of this year is provided by a significantly favourable comparison to 2018’s paltry haul of Fred, Diogo Dalot and Lee Granty.

This is not, though, what was needed, right now, in a hyper-competitive Premier League.

Most egregiously, United were able to secure just one permanent sale – Chris Smalling back to Roma, for good. August’s departure of the wretched and flamboyantly overpaid Alexis Sanchez to Inter Milan involved a “significant financial hit”, according to BBC Sport.

Phil Jones, the enraged Sergio Romero, Jesse Lingard and Marcos Rojo remain spare parts, costing – according to The Sun – approximately £300,000 per week in wages.

Loans, instead, have been sanctioned for Dalot to AC Milan and Andreas Pereira to Lazio. Neither contain guaranteed-purchase options, parking the issue which afflicted an unloved Smalling until 2021.

If history is to repeat itself, the coming weeks will feature leaks about a desire to, belatedly, fill the role. Nothing of substance will follow, much to the chagrin of enraged Red Devils supporters.

A glaring sign of the disorder found within the decaying Theatre of Dreams was the fact deadline day contained reported links by the Daily Star for Mauricio Pochettino to imminently replace the embattled – and badly let down – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. This, it does not require genius to deduce, is not an exemplar of good governance.

To add to the levels of bemusement about United’s conduct, an in-house example exists of the DoF model’s obvious worth. Head of first team development Nicky Butt has methodically and decisively procured a horde of Europe’s finest young prospects in recent months.

France Under-17 captain Willy Kambwala, from Sochaux, was the latest added to a list that featured Marc Jurado (from Barcelona), Joe Hugill and Logan Pye (both Sunderland), Isak Hansen-Aaroen (Tromso), Charlie McNeill (Man City), Alvaro Fernandez (Real Madrid), Radek Vitek (Olomouc) and Alejandro Garnacho (Atletico Madrid).

Butt is a decorated United youth product and former England international who excelled at World Cup 2002. Woodward is a chartered accountant and ex-investment banker who advised the Glazers about their reviled, debt-laden 2005 takeover.

The contrast in backgrounds is, utterly, stark.

Compare United’s convoluted procedures to the efficiency exhibited at the 2020/21 table’s summit by practitioners steeped in football experience.

Major business was long completed and key signings integrated. Useful adornments, if at all, were pursued in the final 24 hours.

Clear strategy, in the medium to long term, is easily identifiable. Unlike the slipshod floundering at Old Trafford.

Arsenal’s tag as laughing stock has been definitively erased by a streamlined transfer committee led by technical director – and former midfielder – Edu. Atletico Madrid and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey was the defining deadline-day signing, yet firm foundations were further enforced throughout the past months.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headlines a lengthy list of summer contract renewals. Lille centre-back Gabriel and ex-Chelsea winger Willian have contributed, extensively, to their current fourth-placed position.

An impressive £20m was banked sending no2 goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa.

Lee Congerton, head of senior recruitment, at third-placed Leicester City oversaw a required sale of England left-back Ben Chilwell to Chelsea for £50m on August 26 and recruitment of £18m replacement Timothy Castagne from Atalanta by September 3. The Belgium international has gone onto produce one goal and two assists in four promising appearances.

Napoli defensive midfielder Allan, Watford battler Abdoulaye Doucoure and the rejuvenated James Rodriguez shifted the paradigm at leaders Everton. Significant squad bolstering was then carried out with the arrivals of Sweden shot stopper Robin Olsen as much-needed competition for the erratic Jordan Pickford, plus England Under-21 centre-back Ben Godfrey from relegated Norwich City.

Liverpool swept in for back-up left-back Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos and sweated Bayern Munich for the ethereal Thiago.

The Reds were still, however, torn apart by second-placed Villa. A club which escaped relegation on 2019/20’s final day has been vastly, and swiftly, bettered by the addition of FC Copenhagen technical director Johan Lange and dismissal of the inadequate Jesus Garcia Pitarch.

Ollie Watkins’ perfect hat-trick in the 7-2 annihilation of Liverpool has helped justify a £28m investment from the Championship’s Brentford, while another £14m raid on the division for buccaneering Nottingham Forest right-back Matty Cash appears astute. With Martinez and Chelsea loanee Ross Barkley, also, slotted in, there’s no wonder coveted skipper Jack Grealish inked fresh terms.

Institutional instability has been cast into a harsher light by a pandemic predicted by the European Club Association to cost the continent’s top-flight clubs €4 billion in lost revenues.

The normal rules of football continue to be ignored in a campaign defined by exaggerated scorelines, inopportune preparations and VAR-related controversy.

Maximisation of dwindling resources, no matter how large they are, is essential to thrive in such febrile times. Consistency, too.

Arsenal’s failed venture with Sven Mislintat and subsequent hiring of Edu has administered a salve for the doomsday narrative which surrounded the club for much of this century. So, too, Everton’s unfulfilled experiment with Steve Walsh – architect behind 2015/16’s miracle at Leicester – and subsequent move to PSV Eindhoven’s Brands.

United made five incomings on deadline day. Only Telles solved a pressing need.

The odds of successfully undertaking such a dash at the end of each window, without the kind of joined-up philosophy employed by nearly all their supposed rivals, are prohibitively long.

A DoF isn’t a guarantee of success. But it gives wise clubs a shot at, invaluable, continuity of thought.

Will a humiliating 2020 be when Woodward and his cohort finally learn? Unlikely…