Mikel Arteta at Arsenal had his job title changed in his second season at the club, going from head coach to manager to reflect his responsibilities at the Emirates which included analysis, recruitment and the medical department.
At the time of the change it was announced by Arsenal he would be “working really, really closely together to manage all the other elements of our football operations that are so important”.
At United, there was always Ferguson in charge of football operations during his time at the club. United appointed John Murtough as the club’s first “football director” but the managers had a huge say in transfers through to Ten Hag’s appointment, when he looked to sign Andre Onana after working with him at Ajax, as he did with Antony.
Rival clubs have tended to move away from this traditional model to one where a sporting director is in place and can let the head coach concentrate on preparing the team for matches.
Ratcliffe spoke earlier this week on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast where his comments on finding “the next Kylian Mbappe” gained attention, although his view on head coaches was interpreted by sources as equally important.
“It’s where you start. You need the right organisation and structure. In the old days of Sir Alex Ferguson he was the manager,” said Ratcliffe.
“Well, we don’t have managers today, we have a coach. And a coach would normally report to a sporting director and a sporting director would report to the chief executive. Where do you put recruitment? Strategy? All that kind of stuff. You need to get your organisation right and then need to populate it with the people who are best in class.”
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