The Coach's Critical Mistake? Taking On The Executives and an Unassailable Executive Class

Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. 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 whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. 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. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.