🔗 Share this article

Itranspired he was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus 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, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing 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 proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.