🔗 Share this article

Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in 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 entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.