‘Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst because many people didn’t support us” and “I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach” will ultimately be the managerial epitaphs of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim.

Maresca instigated a chain of events at Chelsea that resulted in his departure, while open sourness between dugout and hierarchy at Manchester United rapidly descended in a civil war that ended with Amorim’s abrupt sacking on Monday.

It is the nature of being a head coach – sorry Ruben … manager – that they are required to face journalists potentially four times a week in press conferences. Additionally, they need something to say to rights-holder broadcasters, who conduct separate interviews. Not many embrace the challenge; for some it is an entirely irritating aspect of the role, a distraction from the training pitch, especially when results are not going well.

Some try to use their exchanges to their advantage, to build up pressure on those above to bend to their will. For his part, Amorim was strikingly honest with the media; it rarely felt like he was hiding things when asked a question. He produced respectful answers, even if they were detrimental to his own cause at times. The music was faced, with him receiving plenty of merited criticism and dealing with the consequences until the bitterest of ends.

Head coaches and managers are the ones held accountable for results, sent out to conduct pre and post-match press duties after a disappointing performance. For many supporters and pundits alike, it is all the fault of the person who picked the players and tactics for a team’s failings – no one else can be blamed.

In the modern game, however, as Maresca and Amorim have discovered to their cost, the head coach or manager is no longer the most important person at a football club and, as such, it is probably time those who actually wield the power also front up to the media.

Chelsea’s co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, carried out an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2024 and some internal media duties after joining the club in 2022. When Maresca was sacked their names did not appear on the statement, despite having triumphed the fact Maresca’s “ambitions and work ethic align with those of the club” when initially appointing him.

Given that, they should surely comment on whether or not their recruitment efforts have played a role in Chelsea winning one of their past eight Premier League games.

At United, Jason Wilcox, the director of football, also operates in the shadows. He made a rare journey into the light for in-house media after a run of three straight victories in October, enjoying a pleasant walk around the training ground in the sunshine, sending out a positive message.

The minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is more open to carrying out media duties, but is not a football expert. Surely it would be better for those with the knowledge of the sport to attempt to control the narrative and for it to not always have fallen on Amorim’s shoulders to explain United’s failings, regardless of the weather.

Clubs live and die by their recruitment, but those identifying the talent pass on the responsibility of whether they succeed or fail to others. Amorim did not sign Joshua Zirkzee, who clearly did not fit into his plans, but was made to discuss the Netherlands forward when it should have been those who scouted and negotiated the deal.

Graham Potter and Nuno Espírito Santo arrived mid-season at West Ham to find unbalanced squads, having to work with what they had after repeated ill-judged signings over a sustained period. It was left to Nuno to apologise to fans on Saturday after a desperate defeat to Wolves, not those who have overseen West Ham’s problems in the long term.

In the Bundesliga, sporting directors regularly address questions from the media. When Bayer Leverkusen parted ways with Erik ten Hag – Amorim’s predecessor at Old Trafford – after three games this season, Simon Rolfes fronted up in a statement and has since given interviews. A lesson there for his English counterparts.

Football clubs, certainly at elite level, are professional businesses with supposedly clear strategies overseen by large teams. As such, it is not right that one person should be held accountable when things are going wrong, especially when trial by media leads to them and only them being found guilty of failure and, in the end, speaking out in such a way that they end up getting sacked.