🔗 Share this article

Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.