The Coach's Fatal Mistake? Taking On Wilcox and an Unassailable Leadership Class

Transpired he was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.