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ESPN.com writer- Ryan O'Hanlon is a staff writer for ESPN.com. He's also the author of "Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game's Analytics Revolution."
It's been nearly nine years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and Manchester United needed a new manager. Well, we're almost a decade in and the search is still ongoing. David Moyes lasted for less than one year. Louis van Gaal made it two, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both fell shy of a full third season, and the guy in charge since Nov. 29, Ralf Rangnick, signed on for only six months as manager (with the potential for a two-year consultancy beyond that).
After 27 years under the stewardship of maybe the best coach in the history of professional sports, Manchester United have become just another Premier League team, hiring and firing a new manager every two-plus years. The issues at the club clearly go deeper than just the guy on the sideline, but the same dysfunction that seems to affect their player-acquisition strategy -- take a deep breath and then give this list a quick read -- extends to how they hire their coaches.
While Liverpool and Manchester City's successes are triumphs in organizational cohesion, they're also proof-positive of the transformational impact that certain coaches can have at the highest level. Manchester United can easily afford a manager of Jurgen Klopp's or Pep Guardiola's quality, so why haven't they hired one?
With a new manager due to join the club this summer, Mark Ogden and Ryan O'Hanlon are going to play Director of Football and answer that question. First, it helps to know how United got into such chaos; from there, we'll look at the style of play United should aspire to if they're to be winning trophies again, assess the field of possible candidates and finally, hopefully, make the pick.
You're welcome, Man United.
Jump to: Where United went wrong | How should United play? | Coaches on radar | Which coaches actually make sense | Our pick
