🔗 Share this article

Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.