🔗 Share this article

Tbecame clear he was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.