🔗 Share this article

Tbecame clear he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran 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. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate 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 as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.