Manchester United | Ten Haag | Unaligned Incentives in Football
Sir Alex Ferguson retired from Football Management in 2013. In the 11 Years that followed, Manchester United, one of the Biggest Football Clubs and Sporting Institutions in the World largely operated without a Football Structure. Instead, all decisions were funneled through the Former Vice Chairman Ed Woodward, who famously made the decision to sign Past his Prime Cristiano Ronaldo in Gary Lineker’s garden. While United were punting on a Best In-Class Football Structure, Manchester City and Liverpool were hiring the best and brightest people to run Football Operations.
It took a Change in Minority Ownership for United to begin the process of Building a Best-In Class Football Structure led by the appointment of Omar Berrada from Manchester City and Dan Ashworth from Newcastle United. These hirings along with INEOS Track Record in Cycling and at OGC Nice should be heartening for Manchester United Supporters.
That said, this weekend I read a news story claiming that Erik Ten Hag will have veto power over new signings. This decision if true makes less sense. United recently extended Ten Hag’s contract despite an underwhelming first two years at the club. For the Record, I agree with the decision to retain Ten Hag because Management Change can be Capital Intensive and risky without a foundation in place for a transition.
At the same time, there seem to be Unaligned Incentives. Despite the Extension, Ten Hag only has a 2 Year Extension from an Ownership Group that didn’t originally hire him. Under these circumstances it would be unsurprising if Ten Hag’s Decisions are not driven by Job Retention. That mindset has the potential to get in the way of Good Recruitment and Team Building, Process, Player Development, and Overall Judicious Decision-Making. Let’s not forget that Ten Hag’s Recruitment and Team Building Record isn’t great. Upon arriving at United he signed Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, and Antony. While I do think they are Good Players, the signings were clearly born out of Familiarity Bias as opposed to any specific Team Building Methodology. One can associate the Other Signings to Other Unchecked Behavioral Biases.
Finally, Aligned Incentives is one of the Constant Patterns associated with Success in Sports. In United’s Case, Ten Hag’s Incentives seem Unaligned with Ownership, Senior Management, and a Squad that is being pushed in different directions. Giving Ten Hag Veto Power, only threatens to create more chaos in what is a Poorly Organized, Unstructured, but Exciting Playing Squad.
One More Thing
One of the most underrated aspects of Hiring a Coach is getting clarity around how an Incoming Coach will organize and Deploy the Existing Roster. The answer to this question along with the way it is answered should tell you a lot of about the future. Overall, I’m interested to see how Ten Hag and INEOS approaches this summer, and what United’s Lineup Looks Like against Fulham on August 16th.
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