🔗 Share this article

Transpired Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private 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. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.