Manchester United's head coach and director of football structure

The model in plain terms

Manchester United are no longer run by one all-powerful manager. Football decisions are split across several roles. The head coach is responsible for the first team: training, selection, tactics and the public messaging around matches. Above and alongside the coach sits a director of football. That role covers recruitment, squad planning, contract strategy, the academy pathway and the club's overall playing philosophy. The director is meant to keep the club's direction steady while coaches come and go.

Michael Carrick currently holds the head coach role. According to the Guardian, Jason Wilcox is the director of football. The paper reports that after a Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid, the defender Lisandro Martínez publicly criticised Wilcox. It also reports that the club have had their weakest league start since 1986 and are out of the Carabao Cup. Carrick then faced the media before a league trip to Leeds United. The Guardian describes his approach as a deliberate effort to take the heat out of the situation, and its headline quotes him calling it "really not a drama".

What matters here is less the individuals than the design. When a player questions the director of football rather than the coach, he is pointing at the part of the structure that is usually kept out of public view.

Origins of the split role

The traditional English model gave one manager control over coaching, transfers and often contracts as well. Very long managerial reigns made that model look natural. One weakness was continuity: when the manager left, the club's recruitment logic and much of its institutional memory often left too.

Continental European clubs had long separated these jobs. A sporting director or technical director built the squad and a coach trained it. Premier League clubs adopted versions of this model gradually. They were pushed by the growing cost of squads, the complexity of data-led recruitment and the financial exposure created when each new manager rebuilt the squad in his own image.

At Manchester United, the current version came with the restructuring of football operations after INEOS took a minority stake and control of sporting matters. That change created or reshaped executive roles above the coaching staff, including the director of football position. The exact division of responsibilities written into internal job descriptions is not public.

How it works today

In practice, the model rests on a few connected mechanisms.

Recruitment ownership. The director of football's department usually leads player identification, valuation and negotiation. The head coach has a say, but the final decision often sits with the sporting hierarchy and the board. When signings disappoint, it becomes unclear whether the coach or the director carries the responsibility.

Coach as a replaceable component. The model assumes coaches can be changed without starting over, because the squad is meant to suit a club-wide playing idea rather than one person's preferences. The title "head coach" rather than "manager" signals this narrower remit.

Communication lines. Players normally deal with the coach every day. Their dealings with the director concern contracts, futures and status. If a player goes public with criticism of the director, that usually means those private channels have broken down. That is why the Guardian treats Martínez's comments as a sign of deeper problems.

Media management. In this setup the head coach is the club's main public voice on most matchdays. The coach has to defend decisions they may not have made fully, while avoiding any appearance of disagreement with the hierarchy. The Guardian's account of Carrick's press conference shows that balancing act. He did not let the dispute grow, and he kept attention on the next fixture.

Fixture pressure. League, domestic cup and European matches come close together. Any dispute inside the club has to be handled between games, with little time for reflection. The Leeds fixture adds a long-standing rivalry to that pressure. This article makes no forecast about the match.

Common misunderstandings

"The head coach picks the signings." Under this model the coach is consulted, but the recruitment department and the director of football usually lead. Blaming or crediting the coach alone for transfers misreads how the structure works.

"A director of football is just a transfer negotiator." The role normally covers the whole football pathway, including academy integration, loans, contract renewals and the club's long-term identity. Negotiation is only one part of it.

"Public criticism from a player means the structure has failed." It shows friction. It does not prove the design is wrong. Clubs with stable sporting-director models also go through visible disputes. The more useful question is whether the lines of authority are clear enough to settle them.

"A calm press conference means nothing is wrong." A composed public line is part of the coach's job in this system. It tells observers how the club wants to present events. It does not tell them what has been discussed in private, and those discussions are not known.

"Changing the coach fixes structural problems." The model is meant to protect continuity when coaches change. If the difficulty lies in recruitment or communication between departments, replacing the coach alone may not address it.

Where to look next

Readers who want to understand the structure rather than the controversy should start with the club's own published leadership information. It sets out which executives hold which titles. The Premier League handbook explains how clubs register squads and handle contracts, which shows where the director of football's work meets the league's rules. For context, compare how other Premier League clubs describe their sporting director roles. Measured reporting from the Guardian and other established outlets can show how the relationship between United's coach and hierarchy develops. Statements from the club itself are the authoritative record of any change to roles.

Frequently asked questions

What does a director of football do at a Premier League club?

A director of football oversees the club's long-term football strategy. That usually includes recruitment, squad planning, contract renewals, loans and the academy pathway into the first team. The role is meant to give the club continuity, so its playing identity and transfer approach do not have to change every time a new head coach arrives. The details vary from club to club and are often not fully published.

Is Michael Carrick a manager or a head coach?

The Guardian describes Carrick as Manchester United's head coach. It also uses the familiar term "manager" when discussing the pressure on him. The title "head coach" usually signals a narrower remit than the traditional English manager. The focus is on training, selection and tactics, while recruitment and long-term planning sit more with the director of football and the club's executives.

Why did Lisandro Martínez criticise the director of football?

The Guardian reports that Martínez publicly criticised Jason Wilcox, Manchester United's director of football, after the Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid. The paper presents this as exposing tensions inside the club. Beyond that report, the private reasons and any conversations behind the comments are not known. They should not be assumed from the outside.

Who is responsible for Manchester United signings?

Under the club's current structure, recruitment is led mainly by the football department under the director of football, with the head coach consulted and the board approving major spending. Exactly how much weight each party carries in any individual decision is not public. That is why responsibility for transfers is often disputed when results are poor.

Does the head coach and director of football model work in England?

Many Premier League clubs now use some version of it, adapted from continental European practice. Supporters argue that it protects continuity and reduces costly squad rebuilds whenever coaches change. Critics point to blurred accountability. Whether it works depends heavily on how clearly a club defines each role and how well the departments communicate.

Sources and further reading

• The Guardian: football coverage reporting the press conference, the defender's comments and the club's current competitive situation
• Manchester United: official club communications and published leadership structure
• Premier League: the league handbook on squad registration, contracts and club governance
• Established football governance analysis: published studies of the sporting director model in European clubs