🔗 Share this article

Transpired the manager could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.