🔗 Share this article

Itbecame clear the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.