Which of these Managers would best suit your Company? If you’re a football fan, a commuter who picks up the Evening Standard from time to time, or even if you’re neither of those – I’m sure most people have been made aware of the recent drop in performance at Manchester United which has caused up roar amongst the fans across Manchester, London and pretty much everywhere throughout the world.
Manchester United haven’t been involved in such a poor losing streak since the start of Alex Ferguson’s career back in the late 1980’s; a period in which (funnily enough) Alex Ferguson’s job was in some serious doubt.
Alex Ferguson’s reputation from then on went from strength to strength and is now widely recognised as one of (if not) the best football manager to ever grace the game of football.
Of course, Alex Ferguson boots were always going to be challenging to fill after his retirement having won an astonishing 13 premier league titles, 5 FA cups and 2 champions leagues. David Moyes certainly didn’t fill those boots being asked to leave the club after just 11 months in charge…
Manchester United simply needed a bigger name to counterpart the sheer size of the club and so appointed Louis Van Gaal as their manager in May 2014; a manager with an exceptional CV and 25+ years’ experience as a football Manager. At the time (and arguably, still) recognised as the best man for the job.
As a recruiter in the property industry, I imagine by now some readers are wondering how this is at all linked, and I’ll make myself clear…
A lot of fans, sports pundits, and again anyone and everyone seems to be talking about what should be next for Manchester United in terms of getting someone in to drive performance and get Manchester United performing, like they did in the golden “Fergy years”.
There seems to be 3 choices, or at least 3 speculative choices for the Manchester United board.
- Stay with LVG; keep the faith, support him, help him, and let him do his job. Simply wait for the results to come
- Hire Jose Mourinho – a Manager who has (until very recently) a knack of winning trophies, grinding out results, and someone who has always had admired Manchester United as a Club
- Appoint Ryan Giggs – current assistant Manager of the club, a hugely loved and respected icon and ex-player of the club with almost 700 appearances across 26 years’ service. Someone who would undoubtedly relish the chance to manage the club which has offered him so much
As a recruiter specialising in Management positions, it is often the case I am in conversations with hiring managers about the different options and indeed best ways to positively impact and change their business which is not performing the way in which they want it to…Of course, there is no clear cut answer to what should be done when your office isn’t performing and lots of areas of the business need to look at before making a decision. However, more often than not it is a case of those very 3 options mentioned above and that is; stand by your current manager and see what changes can be made to benefit the business without losing an employee, promote from within or externally recruit!
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that although football is extremely different from the property industry and the costs involved are certainly worlds apart, the business foundations and the decisions of the board at Manchester United are actually very similar to that of a Managing Director for an Estate Agency which isn’t performing under the leadership of their current manager.
As a Manchester United fan myself, I know who I’d hire…
What would you do?…
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