🔗 Share this article

Iturns out he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own 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 quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.