🔗 Share this article

Iturns out the manager endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.