🔗 Share this article

Transpired he was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire 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 at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox 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 demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan 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 executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.