🔗 Share this article

Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, 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 embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.