By Ian Herbert For The Daily Mail
Published: 22:30 BST, 21 April 2019 | Updated: 23:55 BST, 21 April 2019
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In the early weeks of the post-Ferguson era, when they did not have the remotest idea how much of a struggle their world was about to become, Manchester United allowed David Moyes to release Mike Phelan from their coaching staff.
It is a measure of their desperation to locate the old ways that they are now ready to appoint him technical director. Ferguson's achievements seem so miraculous in the light of all that followed that Phelan seems touched with genius - by association.
But this appointment is not the enlightened one the club need. United should be looking for a director of football who can begin to make their business in the transfer market coherent and prudent at last.
Mike Phelan was previously let go by Man United but could be their new technical director
Manchester City can teach them. In director of football, Txiki Begiristain, they have an individual, steeped in the playing side of the game and embedded in the network of clubs and agents, who establishes and pursues priority targets long before a transfer window opens.
There are typically three or four individuals for each targeted position; always
