AN EVALUATION OF PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH DURING MANAGERIAL CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB

Abstract

Manchester United Football Club which has the largest fan followers in the world and is valued at $3.3 billion which is the highest valuation for any sports club has gone through some turbulence in the last couple of years. Sir Alex Fergusson who was the manager for 26 years from 1986 to 2013 and took the club to a new high level of consistent performance and laurels had retired. Mr. David Moyes was recruited to replace SAF in May 2013 and barely after 10 months was sacked by the Manchester United board due to sudden dip in performance of the club in premier league as champions in 2013 to 7th position in 2014. As an interim arrangement Mr. Ryan Giggs who was an iconic player of the club was selected as coach. The search for a regular manager ended with appointing Mr. Louis Van Gal, rated as one of the greatest coach of modern times who took charge in May 2014. Decision taken by MU management based on the wisdom of the outgoing manager to appoint a coach and without giving time for the new manager to settle down replacing him and appointment of his replacement is discussed here. The strategy adopted by the management in appointment of Mr. David Moyes and his replacement Mr. Van Gaal is critically discussed. Based on various decision making tools, the best tool which should have used on change in leadership for this situation is presented and is justified in detail. To support the claim, statistics of these three coaches performance as coach is used as substantiating evidence to support the research as there is no previous study conducted on this management changes and its impact.