The Coach's Fatal Error? Taking On Wilcox and an Infallible Leadership Tier

Transpired Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.