Amorim's Critical Error? Taking On Wilcox and the Unassailable Leadership Tier

Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.