🔗 Share this article

Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.