Why Chelsea and Manchester United find themselves in a similar disarray

When Chelsea and Manchester United walk out at Old Trafford on Sunday evening, there is sure to be a strange feeling in both fanbases. It was not long ago that these two teams used to regularly compete for the title and were the two best sides in the country. For almost a decade, the Premier League title race was almost always between these two sides. In 2008, they even faced off in a Champions League final.

However, this week, they will walk out against each other in a desperate attempt to secure qualification for the Champions League. Over the last five years, both teams have missed out on playing Europe's elite competition twice. Next season, at least one of them or quite possibly even both will not feature in the tournament once again.

Evidently, both clubs have seen a monumental fall from grace. At the moment, the two sides look further away from competing for the Premier League title than they have ever been. Fans of both sides will concede that the quality of their squad has significantly declined from their days of glory and their recent league positions vindicate their claim. While it's true that the two clubs have won a few trophies in recent times, those victories have only papered over some serious cracks.

At the root cause of the problem for both clubs, lie some huge mistakes in the boardroom of both the clubs. At Stamford Bridge, the club failed to recognize flaws in their title-winning efforts and failed to improve the team to keep up with the competition.

On the other hand, a lot of players from Sir Alex Ferguson's final squad still survive at Old Trafford despite years of under-performance. The result of this has been that both have stockpiled on a lot of players who are simply not good enough for the level the clubs aspire to reach.

Recent actions point to the fact that neither club has learned from their mistakes. In the last few months, Manchester United have given new contracts to likes of Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. Quite similarly, Chelsea gave both Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso long-term contracts earlier in the season, despite them not possessing the traits a team needs from their full-backs in modern times.

This approach of both clubs is in stark contrast to Manchester City's ruthlessness after Pep Guardiola's first season at the club in releasing players who did not fit the system.

Jose Mourinho has managed both clubs in the last five years

Another common theme between the two clubs is the lack of direction. Quite evidently, both Chelsea and Manchester United have hired managers and signed players without having a philosophy in mind. Both appointed Jose Mourinho only a couple of years after signing Andre Villas-Boas and Louis Van Gaal, who have almost opposite ideologies in how they want to play football. The transfer strategy at the two clubs has looked haphazard and devoid of a coherent plan.

The clear problem is that lack of identity and one should not look beyond the absence of a director of football as a prime reason for that. Manchester City's recent rise has been inspired by the appointment of Txiki Begiristain and the club fully committing to his vision. On the other hand, Chelsea are yet to replace Michael Emenalo while United have never appointed anyone for this role in history. If they want to get back to the top, it's high time that the two teams appoint a technical director and give them the freedom to implement their plans.

In recent times, fans have laid the blame on the manager for their struggle. The nature of modern football probably prompts such feelings. After all, the coach is the main standing on the front-line.

However, similar issues are repeating for both clubs under multiple different managers. It is vividly clear that in neither place the manager is the biggest problem. Unless both Chelsea and Manchester United sort out the bigger issues that are curtailing them, no coach in world football can save them. The longer they continue to ignore the real problems they face, the worse the situation is going to get for them.