In American professional sports the days of one person being both coach and general manager are long gone. And the few recent throwbacks, such as Stan Van Gundy or Tom Thibodeau in the NBA, have proved disastrous.
If the coach is allowed to control transfers and planning, then he tends to go for short term thinking and the club lacks continuity when coaches change.
Also, the job is simply too big these days for one person as the sports have gone global in their recruitment.
In the case of Sir Alex, you had a long term manager capable of thinking long term and United’s league position and market was simpler to understand back then.
But in the period before and after Sir Alex’s retirement, there was no director of football to manage the transition. Not only that, but David Gill retired at the very moment he was needed most.
Ever since, we have had lost transfer windows as managers were indecisive (David Moyes) or living in the past (Van Gaal) or falling out with their players (Mourinho).
Living without a Director of Football was a luxury afforded for a while by SAF and by continued club success, but this time around they will have realized that the hiring of a Director of Football must precede the hiring of a new manager.
Woodward was not enough of a football man to naturally fill that need, nor was it clear that it was even in his job description to take over the kind of decision-making that had always belonged to Sir Alex. This time they need to start with clearly defined roles and a clear division of labor.