The Coach's Fatal Error? Taking On Wilcox and the Infallible Executive Class

Iturns out the manager endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point 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, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.