🔗 Share this article

Itbecame clear the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.