🔗 Share this article

Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. Even 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 formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard 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 Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain 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 publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.