🔗 Share this article

Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was the director , after 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 ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.