The Coach's Critical Error? Taking On Wilcox and the Infallible Executive Tier

Iturns out he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.