Thursday 21 February 2019 13:52, UK
Manchester United have lost their identity as a club and a “shake-up was needed”, according to Danny Higginbotham.
Jose Mourinho was sacked as United manager on Tuesday, with former player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought in as his interim replacement until the end of the season a day later.
Solskjaer will take charge of his first game against Cardiff, a side the Norwegian formerly managed in 2014, on Saturday and Higginbotham says the club must prioritise their strategy as they target a permanent replacement at the helm.
They need to get back to basics, discover what their identity is to them. What is the biggest part of the football club? Is it a business club or a football club?
"I think there needs to be a huge change. Everyone has talked about Mike Phelan and [Ole Gunnar Solskjaer] coming in and people are saying 'what are they doing that for?'
"As a supporter, I am not bothered what happens on the pitch in the next six to seven months. As far as I am concerned, what is most important is what goes on behind the scenes.
"Things have to be sorted out. There needs to be - whether it is a sporting director or head of recruitment - everything put back in place because I think so much has been lost in the last few years.
"Sir Alex Ferguson was there for a long time so he was able to build that. But to be coming up to the fourth manager in five and half-six years - that is not good enough.
"David Moyes still has six months left on his contract if he was still at the club. They need to get back to basics, discover what their identity is to them.
"What is the biggest part of the football club? Is it a business club or a football club? You ask any supporter and it is a football club. That should be first and foremost but at the moment that has actually taken a back seat."
Mourinho signed 11 players during his tenure in charge, bemoaning the club's hierarchy not giving him license to bring in the targets he wanted during the summer and Higginbotham says that must be addressed.
"It just looks like there has been a scattergun approach in terms of bringing in players," he said. "You need a manager in that has his ideas, allow him to do what he wants to do. If he wants to bring in individual players in, allow him to do that and then move forward.
"Because there are some very good players at that football club. A shake-up was needed but it can't keep continuing. This time it has got to be done right. There has got to be continuity and a long-term plan as well."
Higginbotham believes the club's apparent focus on off-field priorities rather than footballing matters is unacceptable and United must rediscover the ethos that made them such a success under Six Alex Ferguson's management.
"As a football club you have a proud identity and I think over the last few years since Sir Alex Ferguson left it has been lost, forgotten.
"I think what has gone on off the pitch, behind the scenes, has been more important. When you look at a club like United it has always been about producing players, about what goes on the pitch.
"As a business entity that was always secondary. Whereas what we have seen over the last few years has been things that have been more important for them at times off the pitch. That is not right. Not acceptable.
"If you look at any club in the Premier League, the top clubs, they have all got superstars. But you don't see the commercial side being pushed as much."
