🔗 Share this article

Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.