🔗 Share this article

Iturns out the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become 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 influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.