🔗 Share this article

Transpired the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not 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 change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.